The Coming Of Winter
by XXPrincessJadeXX
Summary: "I never truly wanted anything, until I got to know you. You weren't meant to get caught up in this mess. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I just wanted to keep my brother safe" Shikamaru/Oc. Swearing, Occasional Violence, Full Summary Inside, Other warnings will be added inside if they come up.
1. Prologue

**The Coming of Winter.**

**So this is the beginning of the story, it's gona start at the beginning of Naruto but wont be strictly following Naruto storyline since it ****_is _****a Shikamaru/Oc.**

**Disclaimer- I dont own Naruto or its characters.**

**Will Start off a little ****_un-_****romantic but will pick up later.**

**Full Summary-**

Rosile and little brother Robbie had their father taken away from them by a killer no one suspects and no one can seem to find. Moving to Konoha, Rosile has to learn the way of the Ninja to be prepared to protect her brother, along with trying to find the origins of her cursed blood and her mother she's never met.  
And the only one with answers wants more than just her fathers life..  
**Bad summary I know but just read along to find out if its your cup of tea yeah ?**

**I wont hold it against you if it isn't.**

"Your father's dead."

She knew that. Of course Rosile knew that.

Did they think that she had just closed her eyes, covered her ears and had been oblivious to everything that had happened over the last torturous two weeks.

Not only having to assume an adult role for the first time in her life, but also having to pretend she wasn't on the verge of tears every waking moment while her fathers murderer had played victim at the funeral.

A liar that had also vanished into thin air the moment Rosile's father was secured 6 feet underground in a coffin.

Rosile had had it up to her ears with all the shit she had had to deal with these past few weeks and now they were coming at her with this?

Rosile wondered how long she could hold onto her sanity for if this continued for much longer.

"You have excellent scores in-"

He was talking again but she paid no mind to it, the only train of thought in her head rushing to her little brother Robbie and where he was now, probably in another interrogation room like her asking if he thought she was stable enough to look after him.

Although Rosile didn't worry about his answers too much since he really only was seven and the only thing off concern for him was why the hell he couldn't go out and _train _already.  
Robbie wanted to be a shinobi.

Rosile didn't really have a set dream or goal other than keeping her brother safe and alive, which had come in handy when her fathers murderer had slipped into their house under the cover of darkness and threatened to kill them all.

But they'd only succeeded in taking one of the Snow's that night.

That life being her and Robbie's father, Damien Snow.

"-the investigation is going to be taken over by-"

Oh right, the 'investigation'.

The one where they assumed the killer was just a thief who didn't plan on killing her father and didn't believe her when she'd told them exactly who the killer was.

But Rosile was thirteen.

Who was going to believe a thirteen year old right?

"-In the meantime, we're moving you and your brother to Konoha immediately-"

"What?"

Rosile's head snapped up to attention, her voice coming out scratchy and cracked from the crying and lack of use she'd done over the weeks, the man across from her nodded patiently and pointed to a piece of paper in front of him.

Rosile was vaguely reminded that she'd been told it was her fathers Will that he'd written before his untimely and 'accidental' death.

It clearly stated that if anything were to happen to him, their family restaurant and house in Kirigakure would be sold and along with the money their father had saved for them, Rosile and Robbie would go live in Konohagakure in a house he'd bought them a while ago.

Apparently it was all settled with the Kage's, her father had been one of Mizukage Mei's friends ever since she'd came into their restaurant one night and he'd made her his signature dish.

One Rosile remembered he'd failed to give the recipe to anyone so that had died along with him as well.

"Why are we leaving right _now_?" Rosile asked, making sure to clear her throat before hand so that her voice came out a bit smoother and took care with her tone.

Polite manners being one of the things she remembered being taught since she could hold a spoon.

The man across from her, who now that she was actually paid attention came to notice that he was her lawyer, rummaged through a bag he'd placed near the table leg and asked her to 'give him a moment'.

In the meantime Rosile looked at her surroundings.

She was in one of the civilian Interrogation rooms because they had 'no more room in the office' along with her lawyer.

The room was small, no bigger than a few metres each way and the way everything was painted a dull grey made her mood dampen even more.

The only thing that was an actual colour was the wooden table which was a dark deep brown that warmed her when she touched it, for some reason Rosile loved trees.

Brushing her fingers over the dark expanse of the wood she got a good look at her hands.

What were once soft, delicate and perfectly tailored were now cold, dry and there was obvious dirt under each nail.

With a soft smirk Rosile knew that her step-mother would have had a fit if she had seen them.

Over the table her lawyer had sat back up and cleared his throat, holding a cream coloured folder in his older hands and smiled softly.

He was an older man, who had surprisingly thick grey hair with soft brown eyes and a kind smile.

Rosile wished she'd learned his name.

The second he opened the file Rosile knew exactly what it was, the dreaded file that her step-mother had burned when she'd found a copy of it, another reason to add to the list of 'why she hated her step-mother'.

It was her life on paper basically, what she was good at, what she wasn't, the good things she'd done in the past, the bad.

"Judging by the look on your face I presume you know what this is" the lawyer said to her, Rosile forced her face back into a relaxed expression, not realising she was frowning.

She nodded in reply and motioned to go on.

"You have your mothers blood."

She knew. Of course she knew.

"Your brother doesn't."

Rosile knew that as well, knew that her brother so wished to be a shinobi but didn't have the chakra or blood to be a successful one, but she did.

"It was assumed that someone had caught wind of your blood, so the Mizukage chose to send you to Konoha immediately to avoid any.. unnecessary trouble"

Rosile understood.

Because Rosile had cursed blood people were going to come after her, and the Mizukage had a lot on her plate so she couldn't spend too much time taking care of two children, no matter how much she cared for them.

"I see, I'll have our bags ready by tomorrow morning"

Rosile had no problem with the situation, although she knew Robbie would, only just having found someone who would actually _train_ him when he only had a little more chakra than the average civilian.

But Rosile did not wish to stay in this village a few weeks longer, the lack of an investigation threatening to consume her with rage since no one would believe her.

Who would suspect her seemingly lovely stepmother to be her fathers murderer when to everyone else, she was practically an angel.

Konohagakure- Village hidden in the leaf.

Kirigakure- Village hidden in the mist.

**Let me know and take care,**

**-PrincessJade.**


	2. Chapter 2- Konoha

Packing the stuff she needed proved to be shockingly simple to Rosile as she didn't want to keep anything other than her clothes, books and her fathers frying pan.

Robbie was a little bit harder to pack for.

Seeing that he wasn't going to part with any of his ninja tools Rosile had to find safe places to put them so that they didn't ruin any of their belongings on the way to Konoha tomorrow, having to improvise with foil and cutting holes into her step-mothers cosmetic box's, (which wasn't _that_ much of a loss but it was what it was.

Robbie had taken the news pretty well considering the circumstances, but Rosile knew he probably wanted to stay here just as much as she did.

Not at all.

He even helped fold his clothes and get the ingredients for dinner out of the pantry for her, asking for a new job every five minutes and looking like a zombie with how wide his eyes were and how stiff his posture was.

Rosile had a sinking feeling that he just didn't want to be alone right now.

And Rosile was fine with that, it wasn't fair that he'd had to go through this at such a young age, sure she was young, but she'd always been kind of a loner anyway, preferring the emptier quiet places rather than at the restaurant.

Robbie passed her the rice to which she poured into the hot water on the stove, Rosile was glad she knew how to cook now that she was expected to, she couldn't really ask Robbie to.

Stirring the rice a little she turned to Robbie.

He was the splitting image of their father, same white hair that no matter how many times you brushed through it, it would always curl somewhere. The same grey eyes with a dash of orange in the left iris. The same lean stature, almost taller than her even though he was 5 years her junior.

He wore their fathers necklace around his neck, a simple sterling silver lightning bolt design with thin black string holding it around his neck, o long on him it could almost touch his belly button.

"You sure you're fine with this Robbie?" Rosile asked.

It was the question she hadn't been saying but the both of them knew it was coming, Rosile wished she didn't have to push him out of his comfort zone, but it was what her dad wanted.

With an unexpected display of maturity, Robbie nodded and looked her in the eyes, eyes still red from crying before, "I'll go wherever you go".

Rosile felt a pang of regret in her heart, he was doing this for her.

Her little brother would leave his dreams and friends for her.

Rosile closed the distance between them and pulled him into a warm hug, one where his head rested in her chest and her arms wrapped around his head, her lips kissing the top of his crown before simply resting her head on his.

"I'll ask if they have any trainers for you. I promise"

Robbie's arms came around her after she said those words and slowly but surely began shaking.

Rosile held tighter, feeling her own body tremble with the grief the feared would never go away, especially in the kitchen, the place her father spent the majority of his time in if he wasn't working.

And together the two of them cried one last time, making sure to let it all out before the next day.

After dinner Robbie came in and slept next to Rosile and curled up against her arm, sleeping soundly and Rosile said it quietly as not to wake him, but making sure the words were out before she fell asleep she whispered, "I'll kill her. I'll avenge you Dad. And I'll take care of Robbie. I promise you."

The Mizukage came out to see them off at the gate the following morning. A sad smile gracing her beautiful face and she kissed them both of the forehead and wished them well, telling Rosile to write to her every few months.

Rosile accepted and then, with Robbie, her lawyer, and a Jounin from the mist to guarantee their safe journey, they set off towards the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

To explain the trip there would be a waste of time, Rosile could honestly remember nothing about it other than learning her lawyers name was Albert and that Robbie could decently throw shiriken after the Jounin (who kept his name to himself) corrected him on his throwing.

After they reached the expanse of trees a few days later Rosile found herself loosing a weight off her shoulders.

The air smelled clean and fresh and faintly woodsy.

Running her fingers over every tree they past Rosile found herself quickly coming to like Konoha if this was what she had to wake up to every morning.

Turning to Robbie she smiled softly when she saw the poor boy fighting to keep his eyes open, he'd walked through this journey the whole time like a trooper.

Nudging him lightly to get his attention, Rosile motioned for him to climb onto her back since the convenient Jounin escorting them had sealed their luggage in a scroll and she didn't have anything weighing her down.

The boy gratefully took the offer and pulled himself up onto her slim back and wrapped his arms around her neck tightly, burying his face into her neck and didn't bother hiding how exhausted he was anymore, since he'd been caught out.

Seeing the gates nearby, she held her breath and brushed her fingers through her hair, feeling a little put off when she felt the head of her hair feel a little greasy and knotted on the way down.

Deciding there was nothing she could do, Rosile simply kept walking with Robbie now sleeping soundly, on her back and walked through the gates of her new home.

The Village hidden in the Leaf.

The four of them were initially bombarded for their passports by the two Shinobi at the front gate, one of them had a bandana while the other had a white bandage on his nose.

The Mist Jounin seemed on edge and Rosile felt responsible, she knew that the Mist and Leaf weren't exactly on good terms and here she was, making one of them go to the other village.

Her lawyer had quickly scrambled for their passports in his bag of wonders and gave them their passes with a shaky hand.

Rosile just watched this happen while standing next to the Mist Jounin to try to make him feel more comfortable, it seemed to work when she felt his body stop tensing so much next to her.

One of the Shinobi then stood and addressed her with a look,

"Rosile Snow, you're being summoned by the Hokage"

_Oh great_, Rosile thought to herself, trying her best to keep her expression neutral, _If anything the Hokage will think she's crazy too_.

With a curt nod and readjusting her brother on her back she followed a respectable distance behind the Shinobi, checking every few seconds to check if her lawyer and the Mist Jounin were behind her.

Rosile could feel every eye on her as the five of them walked through the towns and markets of the Leaf Village. Rosile made sure to try to memorize the stores and roads to take in advance so she wouldn't have such a hard time trying to find her way around later.

Some people looked at her with confused gazes and whispered to each other none-too-subtly, probably since she was wearing tight black pants, a dark green long-sleeved shirt and knee-length grey sandals which was proving to be a mistake since the sun shone brightly here.

And it may have something to do with the fact that the Mist Jounin behind her wasn't exactly the friendliest looking chap in the world.

Rosile just returned the stares with a small smile, trying to start of on the right foot for the sake of her little brother, who was gripping onto her long hair right now and pulling it uncomfortably in his slumber.

By now he was causing her arms to ache uncomfortably and she was shifting him every few seconds now, determined to keep him up but slowly feeling her fingers slip.

It seemed the Mist Jounin felt her struggle as well since in the next moment he relieved her of his weight and settled the boy on his own back, sending a nod to keep walking and strode confidently in front of her.

Rosile mumbled a small thank you and looked back to her lawyer who looked ready to fall over as well, the poor man was holding his heart but sending her a smile nether less, motioning for her to keep walking as well.

The Hokage building turned out to be not too far ahead and Rosile let out a sigh of relief, feeling ready to get off this journey and go to sleep on a _real_ bed as of now.

Rosile didn't know what to expect upon the initial meeting with her new Kage, not knowing whether to expect a beautiful woman like the Mizukage, or a stern looking man like the Kazekage.

Any of the pictures her mind improvised were nothing like the man who sat in front of her once she crossed the threshold of his office.

He was old, older than she'd expected for a _Kage_, so much that she began to worry for this village if he was the one who stood in between them and the Mist if the two ever did declare war against one another.

He held a pipe between his lips and most of his face was covered with a large Kage hat and the majority of his body was hidden with heavy-looking robes that he was probably cooking in with the heat.

Rosile had some work cut out for her with shopping for clothes that weren't going to make her sweat just by walking to her mailbox.

By now, Robbie had woken up, immediately wanting to be put down and ran over to her side where he effectively clung onto her hand with an angry glare on his face to the Hokage.

One of which Rosile tried to scold him for but in doing so only made him glare more.

Giving up Rosile just gave the old man an apologetic look while bowing her head a little in respect, squeezing Robbie's hand a little harder than she needed too.

To her surprise the old man merely chuckled at the young boys antics and a genuine smile spread across his face, making him look a whole lot nicer than he had before, something that Rosile was grateful for as she really wasn't ready for a cold welcome to her new home.

The Hokage leaned forward to address Robbie who wasn't glaring anymore but his wariness was showing, "you must care a great deal for your sister young man"

Rosile didn't question on how he knew she was his sister, he _was_ a Shinobi and had probably done an extensive background check on the both of them before allowing them into his Village.

Robbie had puffed his chest out and pulled his natural curly white hair back out of his face, his chestnut eyes shining with pride, "I'm gonna be the bestest Ninja ever! So I can protect Rosie all on my own!"

His words sent a warm feeling through her body, their father would be proud of him and probably give him the biggest high-five known to man.

The Hokage's eyes shone with his own sense of pride in Robbie and Rosile had the feeling that she wouldn't have to worry so much with this man.

"Well young man, Being a Shinobi isn't as easy as it sounds"

Rosile heard the tone in his voice talking to her in the sentence, the Hokage looked at her the entire time as well, did he want her to become a Shinobi as well?

Robbie scoffed beside her, "I know! But I'm strong! I once lifted the trolley up all by myself!"

That was true, their trolley of groceries once fell and while Rosile had gone to get her father, Robbie had lifted the thing back up to a standing position with a big grin on his face.

While he didn't have chakra, he _was _considerably strong.

The Hokage nodded briefly, but soon tilted his head with a serious look sent her way, "And who are you protecting your sister from?" he asked Robbie.

Without hesitation her little brother said, "From the bad man who killed daddy"

Pain.

It always hurt remembering that night, like an open would that you were trying to sow shut but it never closed, just hurt.

Of course Robbie didn't know any better so Rosile kept her mouth shut and her expression straight, hoping the Hokage wouldn't bring that conversation up.

Finding herself praying for _anything_ but that conversation.

"Well, I guess I'll have you assigned to Ninja Academy then, the Leaf need young men like you"

Robbie's grin grew so big Rosile became worried about how wide his mouth would actually go before it broke, but chose not to ruin his moment and gave him a little squeeze on his hand and send him a warm smile, at the very least he would still be able to train.

"Now about you, Rosile Snow-"

Rosile froze, she knew where this was going, remembered the stupid file her lawyer had shown her and remembered how it made her skin crawl every time she heard about her stupid curse.

"-It has come to my attention that you have a rather _rare_ blood limit" the Hokage said, reaching in front of him to show that damned folder and open it up to the fifth piece of paper, her hospital sheet.

"The leaf have no clue of the blood limit and wish to.. _elaborate _on it, if you will. All of the tests will be at your disposal, we do not wish to make you uncomfortable"

Pain.

Were they going to tie her down to a chair and take samples of her blood?

"-but we simply wish to know more about it-

Were they going to experiment on her like her Step-mother did?

"What do you say?"

What did she say to that? What would her _father _say to that? Other than agree with what her step-mother wanted?

Probably something on the lines of- _Don't be afraid of what you are Rosile. We were all born to do something._

She didn't want to be afraid but she simply didn't _want _the curse either.

But maybe if she let them then it would be easier to ignore.

It was that thought that changed her mind.

"Okay.. I'll do your tests" Rosile accepted with a polite tone.

The Hokage gave a smile that managed not only to reassure her, but also keep her comfortable with the situation at hand.

Rosile squeezed Robbie's hand again and ignored his confused stares.

"Wonderful. Tomorrow around three o'clock I'll have someone send for you to take you to my son Asuma, who will be somewhat of a Sensei to you for now."

Hold on, did he say 'sensei'?

"I thought I was doing tests?" Rosile asked and immediately berated herself for interrupting the man, getting the brief flashbacks to her step-mothers warnings about 'Interrupting' people when they were speaking and how rude it was.

And Women were never supposed to be rude.

"You will be, but most of the Jounin will be busy so you'll just have to bear with him for the time being. Don't worry, I'm sure he wont bite you."

He then went into his desk and pulled out set of keys and held them out for her, she slowly plucked them out of his hand and smiled politely, always politely before standing back next to her brother.

"Here are your keys, your new home is across the road to the Nara Compound, one of the main clans here. Shikamaru, he'd about the same age as you, he'll escort you to Asuma tomorrow morning."

Rosile made sure to memorize all he said, Keys to her new house, across the road from a main clan (note to self _don't _make a lot of noise), A boy around her age will be over to get her in the morning to take her where to go.

"Wait" Rosile found herself saying, "What about Robbie? I want to take him to school in the morning"

It seemed that was a good thing to say since the old man seemed to beam at her love for her brother, when in truth, since their father died, Rosile didn't like to be more than ten feet away from her little brother.

It was a little creepy but had become an instinct. And Rosile wasn't sure how she'd react to him leaving come tomorrow morning.

"I'll make sure Shikamaru shows you to the school"

And before she had time to protest, the man clapped his hands together and took a large puff from his pipe, "My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. Welcome to the Village hidden in the Leaf, Rosile Snow, and you too Robbie"

* * *

**If there are any mistakes let me know,**

**Take Care,**

**-PrincessJade**


	3. Chapter 3- Shikamaru

**So so sorry for how long this took to get out, I lost it somewhere :/ But anyways, just a filler for her and Shikamaru's meeting, and it may get annoying on how many times 'Step-mother' is written but please bare with me, I'm just trying to fill you in on how she was treated and let you get a feel for her character..**

* * *

It was safe to say that Rosile had woken _far_ too early.

It was even more safe to say that she probably hadn't actually been to sleep at all.

Maybe it had to do with the seven-year old kicking her in the ribs while he slept without a care or maybe it was because she had gotten herself _very_ worked up about what was going to happen today.

On her way to the bathroom to shower Rosile went through the instructions again;

'Shikamaru' will come to pick you up in the morning. (Of which she realised she didn't specify what particular _time_ he would arrive but at least she wouldn't sleep through it.. since she couldn't sleep at all)

Then they would curtly drop Robbie off on his first day of 'Ninja Training'.

And then she would meet Mr Sarutobi's son Asuma-_sensei_ who would run some tests with her and maybe help her to understand what her blood limit was really all about.

Letting the hot water run over her seemed like an unknown luxury.

Sure they had hot water in the Mist but somehow, the Leaf showers were _extra _hot, like the Mist had somehow messed with the plumbing and cooled the water down.

Rosile washed herself twice to made sure she had no trace of that god awful swamp they passed on their journey a few days ago and walked out feeling cleaner than she had in days and also pretty confident that she smelled good.

The sun still had barely risen and Rosile had sighed, looking through the cupboards with the decision of making Robbie some breakfast. Only Robbie since Rosile felt that if she ate anything she'd promptly throw it back up anyway since she was still seriously nervous about today.

Why the hell didn't she get any sleep last night?

The cupboards were mostly empty, Rosile wasn't sure why she expected any different since they had _just moved in_ and most of the house was barren of anything.

The house was fairly large, far larger than Rosile had imagined and if she were to be honest, _far_ larger than what she would have wanted.

Why her father had bought this was beyond her but it seemed to be fit for someone starting a new family of seven with additional space for an extra guest.

There were Five bathrooms and Five Bedrooms, Two living areas, a large dinning room and a beautifully crafted kitchen which Rosile adored.

Four of the bedrooms were upstairs and the one she chose had a balcony that looked out over the village and over at the Nara compound.

And Jeez. If you thought Rosile had a lot of space her house would have seemed like a needle in a coalmine.

Sure she knew they were a _clan_ but they each had so much land to themselves it was _crazy_.

But what really caught Rosile's eye was the expanse of trees behind one of their houses.

She had been warned not to go there as it was _private property_ of the Nara clan but from what she could see on her balcony there were actual deer there, and she could see clans members getting close enough to _feed_ them.

It was astounding.

But back to her own house, the space had really bugged her, especially when night had fallen and every dark corner seemed like death, so much that Robbie didn't even pick a room and chose to sleep with her instead.

But Rosile had a feeling he would continue sleeping in her bed for a while now just for comfort.

And not because their house seemed like something out of a horror story you told at a bonfire.

The only ingredients in the pantry were the ideal ingredients for her fathers special pancakes.

It drove a hole in her heart.

Oh how she missed him, It was a noticeable absence that left her gut reeling and her tears threatening to fall each breath she took to calm herself.

She couldn't make the pancakes but she had to give Robbie _something_.

So with a heavy heart Rosile prepared the food, trying to focus on something _other_ than this heart-breaking feeling of loss that felt like it would destroy her from the inside out.

Her blood limit.

The idea came to her so suddenly she even stopped stirring for a moment.

Oh yes, the curse.

She had supposedly inherited it from her mother, someone her father _loved_ to talk about even though Rosile had no memory of her whatsoever.

But even though Rosile couldn't remember, she still felt as if she knew the woman, even if the mere thought of her brought anger seething from her toes with how the woman had abandoned her and Robbie and her father when Robbie was barely a month old.

The stupid woman.

The blood limit was something her father never really elaborated on, mostly because her step-mother had called it a curse and that she was a freak for inheriting something so evil.

And what really made Rosile mad was that she knew the stupid woman was right, the blood she carried within her every _damned day_ was evil and horrible to even think about.

When the doctors had tried to cut it out of her it had turned black and became a poisonous thick liquid that was more potent than the majority of poisons registered.

But when Rosile had tried to cut her arm herself for some reason the blood had stayed thinner and red, like a normal persons, but they never did experiment on it.

Just test her a million times with permission from her 'lovely' pretty step-mother who wanted Rosile to die.

Coming out of her thoughts Rosile decided to flip the pancake that was currently in the pan, and with a sigh and an annoyed grunt noticed that the side that was cooking was a decent charred colour.

She might have forgotten to mention while she knew _how_ to cook food, she wasn't especially _good_ at it, only good at cooking rice and frying vegetables.

Small padding footsteps could be heard behind her and Rosile turned to see her little brother dragging himself out of the room all the while rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning loudly.

"Good morning sleepy-head, have a good dream?" Rosile asked with a teasing tone, one Robbie gave her a good look at his tongue when he poked it at her.

While climbing onto the counter and sitting on it cross-legged to watch her Robbie replied with "I dreamt that I could do cool water Jutsu like the Mist Jounin"

Oh yes, Robbie had been a big fan of one of their escorts from the previous days on their journey, constantly asking him to 'do a cool Jutsu' or 'kick a tree so hard it falls down!'.

Either way Robbie got what he wanted once he'd badgered the Jounin enough.

Rosile looked down at the now finished pancakes, and decided whether or not that they were safe to give to her brother, each one had a burnt part or something she was sure was _not_ in the mixture.

But after debating for a while Rosile just turned them over so that the best side faced up and put them in front of her brother, glad they had maple syrup to go on top somewhere in the fridge and placed it in front of her brother with an 'eat it'.

Robbie seemed more than happy and began quickly wolfing the half-black cakes down his throat happily, too tired to realise they tasted terrible.

Rosile excused herself to go and change into something 'ninja-appropriate'. Opting for a short-sleeved grey shirt, black tights that cut off mid calf and her usual sandals that stopped mid calf as well, hiding her leg from view.

She tied up her long hazel hair that she'd wanted to cut off but never really got around to it, just pulling it into a high pony-tail that brushed against her shoulder blades when it was up like that, the natural curling annoying her and she groaned when her front bangs continued to fall out of the hairtye and rested on her eyebrows.

Looking in the mirror she could see the scars on the inside of her elbow from all of the needles and the blood they'd taken from her wrist, surprisingly only on her left arm.  
Of which she was happy for since she was right-handed and the pain was normally to the point where she wouldn't want to move her left arm at all.

So Rosile took out a bandage from her bag, one she hadn't bothered to unpack yet, and simply wrapped it around her left forearm and successfully hid the flaws from the outside world.  
She tried to make it more natural by wrapping it through her fingers also to make a fingerless glove type of look.

Thats what Shinobi did right?

Once she was finished she took out some clothes for Robbie and sought him out to dress him for the day, passing a clock that read 'seven fifteen'.

She found her brother finishing his burnt breakfast and smiling at her excitedly with maple syrup all around his mouth.

Shaking her head at her goofy brother she put down the clean clothes and wet a cloth to wipe his face before dressing him in a simple, green t-shirt, a pair of dark blue shorts and dark blue sandals that their dad had bought him a few months ago.

Robbie brushed his hand through his crazy curly bed head and held up his already packed ninja bag and looked ready for anything.  
Rosile couldn't look away from his grey eyes, like their fathers, she had always been jealous since she'd been born with plain brown ones like her mothers and the only interesting thing they had would go red when she was completely overpowered by fury.  
Another reason for her Step-mother to call her a freak.

The one thing the two siblings had in common was their thick black eyelashes that made their eyes stand out, but unfortunately it made the both of them look 'pretty' much to Robbie's dismay.

It was then that they heard the doorbell ring.

* * *

Shikamaru was, different from what she'd expected.

She didn't know what to expect but she was certainly _not _picturing a tall, slightly slouching, frowning boy.

Rosile felt _tiny_ compared to him and found herself feeling slightly intimidated standing in front of him.

He was lean in shape, much like her, with warm rosy skin and dark hair that pointed straight even when it was tied up the way it was now.  
He had a tall dainty nose he probably inherited from his mother and a curved jaw, his eyes narrow as he studied her and were a coal colour.

After a few tense silent moment he simply raised his arm and held out two, tied up in patterned cloth, lunch boxes that smelled something like her fathers cooking but not quite, his head turned away from her with that permanent frown on his face.

When she didn't take it straight away he shook it a little impatiently and Rosile quickly relieved it from him gently, holding them carefully with a confused look in her eye.

"um.. I don-"

"They from my Mom" He interrupted and Rosile had to force her mouth from dropping.

His voice was certainly unique, a scratchy and low tone even for a boy going through puberty, one she'd never heard before and made her self conscious since her own voice was higher pitched than her step sister.

But the confusion still remained, Rosile hadn't meet this guys Mother, nor had Robbie so why the hell would a stranger give them food? And delicious smelling food at that.

"Oh um, Thank you." Rosile said, her polite tone coming back from many years practicing and tucked a loose hair behind her ear when her nerves caused her voice to crack a little, she cleared it before saying "But I don't understand why-"

Shikamaru sighed loudly and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, "She thought you guys might want some lunch for today"

Lunch? Rosile had totally forgotten about lunch. She would have sent Robbie to school without it and he would've been starving.  
What kind of big sister _forgot_ to pack her little brother lunch?

Saving her from her thoughts was Robbie who came running out from behind her and giving Shikamaru a glare, one similar to the glare he'd given the Hokage yesterday once they'd arrived.  
It seemed that was his new way of greeting people these days.

Robbie blew a stray hair out of his hair and pulled his bag over his back, looking every bit of seven he was before declaring loudly, "Lets go now"

The three walked mostly in silence, other than the sound of their footsteps or Robbie humming to himself while he not-so-subtly stared at Shikamaru who, looked completely annoyed and exhausted already which did nothing to make Rosile feel better about her nerves.

It was only when they'd been walking for a solid five minutes when Robbie pointed a finger at Shikamaru and blankly asked "Are you constipated?"

Needless to say both teens were completely shocked and Rosile loudly exclaimed Robbie's name before putting her hand over his mouth and giving Shikamaru an apologetic smile while scratching her head.

Shikamaru it seemed didn't know how to react and gave a little shocked look to him, "Why do you say that?" he asked and Rosile was reminded of his scratchy voice.

Without missing a beat Robbie pulled his face away from Rosile's hand and replied with "Because Rosie said when people frown and look like they're holding their breath that they must be constipated. Right Rosie?"

Rosile in turn groaned and face palmed, shaking her head and adjusting the lunch boxes on her arm, feeling both questioning stares from the two boys walking with her and mumbled "I don't remember saying that" quietly in a small voice.

But it seemed that Robbie wasn't going to let it down and nodded quickly as if he knew he was right, "But i remember! You said it to Yoshi when he came over for dinner that time"

At that Rosile smiled, her step-mother had brought over a vile young man to be a 'potential husband' for her and Rosile had openly said that she didn't want to marry a man who looked constipated, and explained to Robbie what it meant and why he looked like it.

"Yes Robbie, but that was because Yoshi was disgusting"

"But he was constipated right? Robbie continued, Rosile sighed and gave him a weary look, "Yes Robbie"

Robbie then turned to Shikamaru "So why are you constipated?"

Shikamaru looked completely scandalised and Rosile had to keep herself from laughing at how uncomfortable he now looked, his face blushing a little and his body leaning away from her white-haired little brother who was barely half the size of him.

"I'm _not_ constipated" Shikamaru insisted and looked away from them with a renewed frown, his lips almost pouting.

What seemed to be the 'ninja academy' came into view and a tall kind looking Shinobi who introduced himself as Iruka-sensei came to greet them.

Robbie immediately took a shine to him and was happy to give Rosile a big hug to the waist, take his lunchbox and go with a wave, sticking to Iruka's side with a smile on his face.

It was only when she heard him ask if Iruka was constipated that she tugged on Shikamaru's arm to leave before she got asked some questions she did not want to answer.

* * *

**Okay so I made a mistake before, In the second chapter it states that Robbie has Black hair, he doesn't. He has white hair which is genetics from the Snow side of the family like his father, whereas Rosile has Hazel hair from her mother, but both hair is curly like their mothers.. Make sense?**

**Thank you so much for reading, I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible :)**

**Please review,**

**Take Care,**

**-Princessjade**


	4. Chapter 4- Sealed!

**This has a _lot_ of info and if it's too confusing tell me and ill attempt to re-write it kay? :)**

**And _PLEASE_ review**

* * *

Rosile found herself continuously looking back towards the school even when the school had long disappeared from sight and Rosile felt her body becoming increasingly anxious.

What if Robbie hated the academy? What if he got hurt, would they know where to find her? He took ninja tools so that made it pretty simple to accidentally cut himself when trying to throw it at a target. Oh lord he wasn't ready for this was he? She should go back and-

"You're really worried about your brother, aren't you?" Shikamaru stated, breaking her out of her overbearing thoughts and somehow calming her down with his voice.  
He had said it like a statement, as if he already knew the answer, and of course he was correct.  
Rosile was worried, borderline _terrified_.

"He doesn't have much chakra" Rosile explained, her voice coming out soft and smooth, a sure sign she was getting more comfortable with him, but still tucked stray hair behind her ear and looked down at the ground, forcing her eyes in front of her "And he can be really clumsy, I can't help but be worried for him"

Shikamaru scoffed, something that caused Rosile to stiffen up and he fixed her with a dry stare as they walked, "He's only seven, what do you expect?"

Rosile blushed, she really wasnt used to this whole on-the-spot questioning thing and his insistent stare wasn't helping manners.

After some thought Rosile decided it couldn't hurt to tell him the truth if she wanted to make some friends right? Well.. maybe not the _whole _truth if she was on her way to make friends, _that_ story was guaranteed to permanently stamp her with the name 'freak' for the rest of her life.

Rosile shrugged lightly and turned to look him in the eyes, resisting the urge to look away when they caught eye contact, "I guess I just don't want anything bad to happen to him."

At that Shikamaru's gaze lessened in intensity and Rosile smiled softly, "When I can't see him I get nervous because then she-"

Out of nowhere, Rosile stopped when she felt an itch on her back, in a place that her fingers couldn't reach.

When she realised her momentary pause and saw Shikamaru looking at her expectantly she quickly tried to remember where she left off but the more she thought about it, the more that itch began to burn.

It was a slow drilling feeling that forced Rosile to stop what she was doing and thinking and it was all she could do to try to find the freaking _thing_ on her back.

It felt like it was drawing blood now and Rosile felt moans of discomfort come from her throat and the burn to start coursing through her veins up into her neck, causing her neck to itch now.  
Like hundreds of little insects were crawling on her skin and itching it just made them run faster.

Rosile briefly heard Shikamaru call her name somewhere far away, and she blindly reached for him.  
Only, reaching out caused her to lose her balance and she fell to the ground, caving into herself and crying out when her back seemed to catch on fire with heat.

The thought made things worse as she imagined her back to end up looking like the burnt side of the pancakes she made for Robbie this morning.

But something was nagging at her in the back of her mind and behind the almost blinding pain, she had to _say_ something but she just couldn't remember.

There was a ringing in her ear and her vision was turning black, she could barely hear when someone else had called out Shikamaru's name and she could barely force herself to ask him for help, only hearing her tone which sounded as if she was falling asleep.

But she wasn't in the safe haven of sleep.

White pain was coming in waves now, like she was swimming in the ocean and every time a wall of water came at her, instead of freezing water, it was extreme hot flames that caught onto her body and were set on burning her alive.

Wait. She coul feel hands on her, cool hands that chased the burning away.

At some point she had closed her eyes and she couldn't see who it was but knew that whoever it was, they were helping.

It didnt even matter that their hands were underneath the hem of her shirt now, all that mattered was the fact that cool hands were making their way up her back and settling on the core of the burning.

Rosile could hear someone gasp, a young girl and then an older man say something to them.

She was about to ask them what was wrong with her when suddenly It felt like someone had stuck a knife into her back.

Rosile cried out and tried to crawl away but with a quick order from the man three pairs of hands came down to hold her down successfully.

Sensing no way out, Rosile grit her teeth and tried her best to bear it, even when it felt as if he was sticking his hand into her wound and feeling around inside for something.

And when Rosile felt as if she could take no more, she lost consciousness.

* * *

Rosile woke with a shock.

Like when you're dreaming that you're falling and it scares you so much you get ripped from the dream and thrown back into reality.

Her head felt dizzy and it took her a few moments for her vision to clear and her ears to silence the ringing sound.

She was in a hospital room. Cream walls, tiled floor, white sheets, uncomfortable mattress, and an i.v. stuck into her arm.

With a sense of discomfort Rosile forced herself o sit up, using the help of the bars next to her on the bed and leaning on her elbows, feeling an itch on her back.

Once she was sitting up she noticed she wasnt alone, the Hokage was sitting in the room with her with a pipe resting on his lips and a calm expression on his face as it appeared he was resting.

Rosile debated waking him to ask but shook it off with how rude that was and simply shifted to get more comfortable and scratched the back of her neck where the itch had settled.

The memory of the walk with Shikamaru was fresh in her mind and she made a point of apologizing to him as that probably wasnt the best first impression.

She could see out the window and saw the large expanse of tree's that surrounded the entire village, she hadn't really been looking this morning during the walk but she really did love the way the trees looked, old and worn.

The thought of what just _what_ she was itching made her curious and after spotting a sink with a mirror in the far corner Rosile swung her legs out off of the bed, noting that she was still dressed in the same clothes.

Her I.V. was dragged somewhat painfully over but once there she lifted her shirt and uncomfortably turned her head so that she could see what had caused this whole mess and after looking for a good while she saw it.

It looked almost like a tattoo with the black pattern and all, it was placed neatly at the bottom of her neck and a bit lower and was in the shape of an elaborate symbol or something, but in her opinion it just looked like the kanji for blood. (Chi)

"It's a cursed seal"

Rosile jumped and ended up hitting her hip on the edge of the sink giving her a wave of pain.  
She placed a hand over her hip to try to lessen the pain and hissed at the ache before giving the Hokage a dry look with how he frightened her.

"Please don't do that" Rosile said softly and made her way back over to the bed, resisting the urge to start itching again.

Hiruzen chuckled and gave a lighthearted apology, waiting patiently for her to setting back on the bed comfortably before he began speaking.

"You gave Shikamaru quite the shock earlier"

Rosile looked down with guilt and tucked her hair behind her ear, feeling bad for how shocked he must have been.  
It seemed Hiruzen sensed her feelings and reassured her with a smile, "He's been waiting outside with Asuma since Asuma brought you in"

Oh, so Asuma-sensei had been the man speaking before, and the other two pairs of hands holding her down must be a part of his 'team'.  
But, why was Shikamaru waiting for her?

"And i hope you wont be too angry with me, but, i asked the nurse to search your body for any other seals"

Wow. That was..

"And?" Rosile asked, genuinely curious and for some reason not feeling at all annoyed that he'd had her searched, she probably would have asked anyway.

"She found no others."

"So it's a 'seal'?" Rosile asked, reaching back to touch it with her fingers and feeling nothing out of the ordinary, it had always felt like that.  
Her eyes snapped open when a thought came to mind, she could have always had it and just never thought to see if it was there.

"Yes" Hiruzen said, taking a breath with his pipe and blowing out a thick stream of smoke, the smell invading her lungs but since her father smoked it wasn't uncomfortable, and if Robbie wasnt in the picture she most probably would have taken up smoking already.  
"It is a cursed seal. But what it is sealing, we don't know yet, though I have a feeling it has something to do with your blood limit"

Her blood limit? It was plausible, it wasn't as prominent as when she was younger but she just brushed it off as it was just getting easier to ignore.

But now, it was as if she could really _feel_ it again.

Like she was just _aware_ of every single thing around her with blood.  
Feel the person in he room next to hers, feel the dog scratching the tree outside the window, feel _every single person in the hospital_.

The realisation hit her like a snowball to the face, it was like she was young again and wondering why the hell she could tell when her step mother and father were having sex down the hall, or why she knew when Robbie had a bleeding nose when she couldn't even see him yet.

Oh yes she could feel it now, but the one she most prominently felt was her own. Feel her blood heat up and rush faster when her heart sped up in fear.

She couldn't do this. No way. This was insane, how could anyone possibly live this way?

_"Your daughter is a Freak Damien! This isn't natural, we need to get her **sealed**."_

Rosile must have been seriously panicking since in the next moment she felt a hand on her shoulder and a calm voice shushing her softly, as if not to frighten her.

She looked up to see Hiruzen watching her and forced herself to calm down, noting that it was almost as if she could feel his blood inside of his hand that was resting on her shoulder, it wasnt much but it distracted her from overbearing memories that threatened to take over her mind.

Without her permission, Rosile's right hand was scratching at her seal like there was something inside of it that was trying to get out and, with trouble, she forced her arm down by her side and took deep breaths to gain control over her body -and blood- again.

It was a technique strangely familiar to her, one she must have forgotten long ago as she could barely remember her blood getting this bad before.

Once Rosile had successfully calmed herself Hiruzen let go of her arm and pointed politely to her seal as if to ask if he could see it.  
Leaning forward, Rosile let the Hokage lift the back of her shirt to assess the seal, and judging by how it felt, it didn't look very appealing.

"Is it painful?" He asked her and she answered honestly.

"Yes, but it hurts more if I don't scratch it"

Hiruzen gave a hum to her answer and put her shirt back down, she noticed that he never actually _touched_ her skin.  
He was actually a _decent_ man.

Rosile was liking this place more and more.

Hiruzen had crossed the space back into the chair on the other side of the room and sat down with an expression deep in thought, absent-mindedly reaching for his pipe and inhaling some more as he thought.

Rosile focused on ignoring as much of other people's blood as she could. At least she couldn't _smell_ it. She could remember why but she had a feeling of dread that if she were able to smell it then things would only go from bad to worse.

"-ve it"

"Sorry?" Rosile asked, not hearing what the old man had said since she had been so lost in her thoughts once again.

He didn't seem at all put out when he repeated, "Your seal, the itching entails that it is indeed broken and the itching is your body's way of telling you to remove it as it is no longer sticking to your body naturally. I could always remove it. Although we have no idea what that could mean"

Right. He was asking her if it was a threat. It was understandable and Rosile felt no offense whatsoever, he was the Hokage so he protected his village.

But if the seal _was_ really holding back most of her blood ability and she could barely handle merely _sensing_ blood at this moment of time she didn't know if she really wanted this thing off. Even though it could itch like crazy, it was probably safer to keep it on for the time being.

But the burning. What was that all about?

"You said that it got itchy because my body is rejecting it right?" A nod "but then why did it burn before?"

Hiruzen leaned forward and Rosile found herself doing the same, as if he had all the answers to this whole mess from before.

"I expect that it was trying to prevent you from saying or doing something. Shikamaru mentioned you said something about a 'she' and that was when you started itching. Can you tell me what you were about to say?"

Rosile thought back to the conversation.  
It was about her brother right? Yes!  
She was worried about him, and Shikamaru asked why.  
She said something on the lines of "when i cant see him.. Because then she.."

Rosile began saying the words out loud, "When I cant see him I get nervous because then she-"

There it was, the burning on her neck returned and Rosile instinctualy curled into herself again. It was less painful this time round and Rosile found her blood was reacting to some type of chemical the seal was producing when she tried to talk about her-

"Step-mother"

Hiruzen looked up and Rosile jumped at the discovery.

"It's stopping me from talking about my-" Burn ".._her_"

He took a long inhale from his pipe and nodded slowly, coming to a decision in his head while Rosile concentrated on trying to _will_ her blood away from the seal.

It took a lot of focus to even begin with.

She could feel her blood pulsing and rushing around the seal and tried to picture it in her mind swimming _away_ from her seal.

It was all very confusing but it lessened the burn immensely.

Like a cool ice-cube running down your spine on the hottest day imaginable.

"We will see how you cope for the next two days. On Friday, I'll have someone pick up your brother and you'll simply come to my office and have someone remove it"

Rosile nodded, it was reasonable and she found no problem with it.

All seemed to be going good until the thought of her brother came back to mind, oh my lord- "Robbie!" She exclaimed and looked to the clock to see it resting on the two-fourty-six mark.  
He'd be finishing school soon.

The Hokage chuckled at how flustered she must have looked and nodded to the door, "You may leave now, i'll settle the papers. Goodbye for now"

Rosile politely smiled and quickly took the offer and rushed towards the door, planning to scope the hospital quickly for Shikamaru so that he could show her where the school was, hopefully he was still here.

Once she opened the door she froze, turned and gave Hiruzen a respectful bow of her head, "Thank you Hokage-sama" and with that she was off.

* * *

Finding Shikamaru was fairly easy, she could have spotted the tall spiky ponytail out of any crowd and forced herself to _walk_ towards him like any _normal _person in the hospital would.

Rosile was a fair six feet away from him and was about to ask him if they could leave now when an even taller _man_ intercepted her path.

This man was slightly above average in build, all muscle and masculinity the way he was put together.

He had thick dark blue hair that was almost black, the regulation leaf headband on his forehead keeping his hair from falling into his dark brown eyes. But it did nothing for the sideburns that somehow framed his face all the way down to his goatee.  
He had a weird sense of grooming choice, she'd give him that.

By the looks of the dark coloured jacket he was a Jounin, and with the cigarette in his mouth and the slouch in his posture she got the feeling he wasnt as uptight as the Mist Jounin had been.

"You gave us quite a scare there Girly" his deep smooth voice rang through her head and Rosile came up blank. She had no clue as to who the hell this guy was, was he looking for someone else?

Shikamaru must've caught the look on her face for he nudged the larger man before shoving his hands back into his pockets and standing next to her "She doesn't know who you are Sensei."

The contrast in voice kept nagging in the back of her head and also the fact that she could _feel_ Shikamaru's blood more prominently even as she was doing her best to block everybody's blood out of her senses.

Wait, Shikamaru said sensei-

"You're Asuma" Rosile stated, feeling a little tingle of pride when his body language lifted and he gave a smirk to Shikamaru who, didn't look too bothered either way.  
Rosile supposed Shikamaru just didn't care that much about anything in particular.

"Asuma Sarutobi, but you can call me Asuma-sensei" he said, extending a calloused hand which she politely shook but was too distracted with the thought of her little brother coming back to the surface.

"Hi." Rosile said curtly before turning to Shikamaru "Can we please go get Robbie now?"

Shikamaru looked at her for a moment before mumbling something under his breath, "yeah sure" and turned towards the entrance, of which Asuma once again intercepted them with a-

"Wow, hold up. I gotta talk to you about what happened today? And about your blood limit"

Rosile grimaced at the thought of blood and absent-mindedly scratched the seal again.  
Although Shikamaru looked extremely intrigued at the mention of her blood limit, well as intrigued as the guy ever looked which was a slight widening of his eyes.

Rosile gave her new Sensei an apologetic smile before linking her arm with Shikamaru's and pulled him around Asuma, "could we just do that tomorrow? Oh and thank you so much for bringing me here and waiting for me" she said while dragging Shikamaru towards the exit.

But she didn't have time to feel guilty.

Ninja Academy had finished two minutes ago..

* * *

**Decided to end it here since theres a whole lot going on and its probably a lot to swallow at once so.. yeah :)**

**BTW theres gona be Shika and Rosie bonding next chapter and she may or may not meet-the-mom..**

**Also, I use 'Mom' because that's what is says in the Anime.**

**Take Care,**

**-PrincessJade**


	5. Chapter 5- Friends

**Okay, Im not going to lie, this is a bit rushed. Sorry.**

**But apart from that, review and tell me what you think. Any suggestions or pointing out mistakes are welcome..**

**And thank you to the Guest who reviewed on the last chapter..**

* * *

Or so she thought. Turned out that school closed in about thirty minutes and Rosile had brushed off her new Sensei for no reason.

"Oh lord, I am _so _sorry. I was sure the school closed-"

Rosile had been apologizing to Shikamaru for a good two minutes now, to which the boy just watched her with a bored eyes half closed expression but allowed her to keep going.

He must have had previous experience with women or something.

"Oh no.. Do you think Asuma-sensei will be angry with me? I mean I could've been _polite_-er or something-"

It seemed Shikamaru had had enough since he let out a loud sigh that stopped her mid sentence and held her by her shoulders so that they were eye to eye, his warm hands seeping into her shirt and she had to blink several times to process what he was saying.

"Calm down alright? You made a mistake, it happens" he told her. Slowly, as if she were a child with his scratchy voice and pulled away to shove his hands in his pockets, scanning the area with keen eyes she hadn't noticed before.

"How 'bout we sit on that bench and wait for him?" he suggested, turning his body in the direction of a park seat but tilting his head to wait for her approval, Rosile felt as if she were getting mixed signals from this guy.

With a hesitant nod to Shikamaru she followed behind him to sit on the warm wooden seat close to the school, sitting an appropriate distance away from Shikamaru but close enough that they didn't look like strangers.

The first few moments were silent.

Rosile didn't know if this was awkward or if it wasn't but she couldn't keep her thoughts from sailing around in her head like annoying flies.  
Of course she didn't _want_ to do experiments again but it _already_ it was becoming overbearing with just how much she could sense right now.

It was like seeing for the first time and she wondered if she would ever be able to get scared by someone trying to sneak up on her with this, it wasn't likely unless she wasn't paying attention to it.

That small thought caused Rosile to sit up straighter with wide eyes.

Yes. That was it. The whole time she and Shikamaru were walking here and her mind was solely on Robbie, she hadn't sensed anyones blood at all.  
Save from Shikamaru who was right next to her the entire time.

So all she had to do was simply distract herself from other blood and she wouldn't have to feel it all the damned time.

"You had a seizure"

Rosile flinched.

Shikamaru had spoken so suddenly while she was lost in thought that pulling her out made her feel dizzy.

She had to think hard to remember what he said before she took it in properly.

His words calm and clear like the sky above them, and his dark eyes staring back into hers so strongly it was almost intimidating, had he always look like that? Did he always have that birthmark on his neck?

Wait. What did he ask?

A seizure? No. That wasn't what that was. It was a the cursed seal on her back.

But she couldn't tell him that could she?  
They weren't exactly best-buddies yet and she didn't want to scare him off, she hadn't even apologized yet! What a rotten thing to do!

But the words didn't come out, her apology, ready on her lips died when she tried to say it.  
It could cause him to ask questions, she could apologize later right.

And after a moment, Rosile settled on a lame "I guess so".

It was obvious in his eyes that he was _not_ looking for that vague answer, but he didn't push her for a better one, leading her to suspect that he'd had previous experience with an overbearing woman to know when to push and when to shut your mouth and just pretend like you were paying attention.

Rosile wished her father had that gene. Maybe if he had then he would still be alive right now since sometimes Dad just didn't understand what personal space was.

Shikamaru simply leaned back and breathed deeply again, looking up to the sky with a longing expression that made Rosile tilt her own head.

She wanted _this guy_ to be her first friend?

She guessed she really shouldn't be picky when it came to this stuff, so far he'd been pretty decent to her and he wasnt pushing for a straight-forward answer like most other people would have done.

Perhaps he, just liked the sky or something.

"Don't"

"Hmm?" Rosile asked, confused at where he was going with this?  
Was he pushing for an answer? She guessed she _could_ tell him about the blood limit thing but it wasn't as if he needed to know or anythi-

Shikamaru levelled her with her gaze again, but there was a new type of emotion behind it that seemed to halt Rosile altogether to the point where it felt as if he was holding her in place with some invisible power of his.

For a few slow moments he was all she could see and all she could think, this had to be understandable because he was _right_ in front of her and people didn't just get in other people's space like that right?

But there it was again, his blood, moving through his veins smoothly and speeding up in certain places.

At this distance she could almost _smell_ it, like a specific scent of his that was his own and it filled her lungs.

He smelled like smoke and wood, like the smell of dull smoke when it begins to fade, almost not there at all, mixed with the scent of an old tree that was warm in its own way and that smell only boys had.

Normally this wouldn't smell appealing at _all_ but when it was mixed together like that, boy and smoke and wood it all had Rosile's taste buds singing.

"The seizure. Dont do that again," he spoke, and weirdly, the scratchiness seemed to be like a breeze to her ears, "it scared me to death"

Once he stopped Rosile felt as if she'd been holding her breath.

What the hell was _that_?

It had to be linked somehow with her blood limit right? It wasn't as if she was making goo goo eyes at him or anything right? She hadn't even had a friend before so what the hell was this?

And then as if his words began to register in her head her mouth literally dropped open in shock.

Shikamaru. He-

He was worried for her?  
How could that be? He barely knew her, it made no sense at all.

But either way, Rosile found herself lighting up with this discovery, feeling it all the way to her fingertips like her blood was warming her in the most wonderful way possible.

Maybe finding friends wouldn't be so hard after all.

"You were.. worried?" Of course Rosile had to clarify this information though.

Perhaps she was secretly a masochist with how she was expecting him to scoff and laugh at her or something, but something extraordinary happened.

Not only did Shikamaru not laugh or make fun of her, he simply looked back up into the sky and sighed.

"Yeah. I guess. It's so unlike me to care about strangers"

Rosile lit up again, this time more so that it was almost violent, she struggled to keep her composure and sit straight with her expression soft and careful.

But this was next to impossible because someone was worried for her, someone who wasn't her father or Robbie and that was something she'd never experienced before, but she knew that it had to be something like nirvana.

With her expression Shikamaru quickly turned his head away so that Rosile couldn't see his face and shoved his hands in his pockets with his shoulders up as if he were embarrassed, like he hadn't meant to say anything but it came out anyway.

Putting a hand on his shoulder gently Rosile smiled at him, hoping to ease his discomfort, "I wont. Do it again"

Shikamaru didn't seem that much relieved but still gave her the smallest smiles in return.

Both of them looked back at the clouds. And after a while, Rosile just couldn't help herself.

Turning her head to Shikamaru and tucking her hair behind her neck she asked tentatively, "Does this make us friends?" in a quiet but clear voice.

Shikamaru turned his head so fast that Rosile worried that it might of hurt, and her concern only increased when she noticed his blood heating up around his neck area, she hoped it was okay.

Shikamaru didn't seemed to care as he continued to look at her as if she'd suddenly grown an extra head and was asking him to breakdance or something.

Blushing, Rosile looked down and began twirling her hair with her fingers nervously, "What?" she asked, wanting desperately for his full attention to be off of her as it made her anxious.

Then, he put her out of her misery.

With a shocked tone that sounded weird with his voice he asked, "You want to be _my _friend?"

Rosile gave him a confused look. Was that so weird? Did he have some type of reputation that she didn't know about? She didn't understand why he sounded so.. amazed that she wanted to be his friend.

"Well.. yes" she replied slowly, as if talking to a little kid.

But that only seemed to make his eyebrows raise even higher and it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore his blood now.  
Jeez this was getting annoying.

"But.. You're a _girl_" Shikamaru stated. And _that _was when Rosile understood.

_Oh. Are boys not 'friends' with girls?_

Rosile blushed and looked down, god she felt stupid, how the hell didn't she know _that_? And he made it sound so obvious too so it must have been common knowledge to _everyone_. She bet even Robbie knew this rule as well and the thought made her so embarrassed.

"Oh.." she said softly and turned away, feeling ashamed and didn't want to disturb him anymore. She guessed she'd just have to find someone else to be her..

"Wait.." Shikamaru grunted, looking not-too-apologetic but still having a little sympathy hiding in there somewhere, he leaned his head back and sighed.

"We can be friends.. If that's what you want"

Rosile instantly pounced on him, wrapping him in a hug that she reserved for Robbie only while she tangled her arms around his neck and pulled him into her while smiling goofily.

Shikamaru made a surprised sound and instantly tried to pull her off of him but when he realised it was futile, he simply gave up and stopped struggling altogether, letting his arms drop next to him and closed his eyes.

Rosile opened her mouth to say something when she heard the shrill ring of the school bell and turned to see a very excited looking Robbie running towards her with his lunch box in tow.

The image of the lunchbox made her wonder where the hell her one went but was quick to pick Robbie up when he jumped and hug him to her, much like she did to Shikamaru not a few moments ago.

"Rosie! I had the Bestest day! I learned how to throw Shireekan" Robbie exclaimed, waving his arms around and making it difficult for her to hold him, the white-haired boy smiling a large grin with his teeth showing.

Rosile smiled down at her brother, laughing when he tried to explain his day, "You mean Shuriken?" Rosile suggested and put him down on the ground, taking hold of his hand and looking over to Shikamaru who was only now standing up to show them the way home.

Well, he had to walk to his house which was across the road from his own compound, it wasn't _that_ much of an inconvenience for him.

Robbie tugged on her hand to gain her attention and nodded really fast, it was only then when she noticed his blood.

His neck was heating up from the vigorous nodding and his body was already heated with how he ran to her when school finished.

Robbie's blood was _very_ different to Shikamaru's, not only did it smell different but it seemed almost _thinner_ than regular blood, as if it wasn't all there or something.

His smell was completely different to Shikamaru's, not only did it not smell like dull smoke and aged wood, his scent was a mixture of rain that had just began to fall along with and a sweet familiar scent that she couldn't place.

"Yeah! I threw it really good! I'll definitely be the Bestest Ninja ever! And I can protect you!" he shouted, proclaiming it to the world and caused Rosile to roll her eyes.

Where the hell did this boy get all his enthusiasm? Perhaps Shikamaru's Mom put something in his lunch? It was plausible.

It was only then that Robbie seemed to notice that Shikamaru was there as well and he sent him a glare, making Rosile squeeze on his hand in warning to stop that stupid habit already but the boy merely grumbled.

"Why the hell is Mr Constipated here too?" he mumbled under his breath, although both Rosile and Shikamaru could hear him clear as day, Rosile sending him a sorry look and Shikamaru shrugging his shoulders in reply.

"Because he is Robbie, Don't be so rude" She reprimanded, trying not to feel guilty when Robbie gave her a wide-eyed look with hurt shining in the sea of gray.

The next few minutes of the walk were silent, Robbie continuing to give Shikamaru dirty looks while Rosile closed her eyes in mild frustration and Shikamaru just.. walking with his hands in his pockets and looking the image of bored.

It was only when their house came into view when Shikamaru broke the silence.

"Wait" his voice called out and Rosile stopped to give him a questioning look.

"What is it?" she asked him, keeping a firm grip on Robbie who was attempting to continue walking home as if he hadn't heard the tall boy beside Rosile.

Shikamaru took the lunchbox from out from behind it before walking over to the side of the road and dumping the contents of the box into the bushes, he then came over and handed it to her.

"What was that for?" Rosile asked, taking the box out of Robbie's hand and handing it to Shikamaru who did the same to the younger boy's box all while saying "Just trust me"

Rosile shrugged it off but gave Shikamaru a questioning glance before they continued on their way home.

Once they stood in the middle of both houses and Rosile was about to say her goodbyes to her new friend she was interrupted by a shrill high-pitched voice behind Shikamaru shouting "Wait!"

All three of them looked over where an older woman around the age of thirty was making her way over to them with her long hair whipping behind her with her speed.

Shikamaru sighed and faced the sky mumbling "what a drag" before putting his hands in his pockets and assuming a comfortable standing position.

Rosile opened her mouth to ask who she was when she was suddenly engulfed by a warm hug from the older woman.  
She tried to make sense of it but it was all she could do to blush and try to stay unmoving since her head was positioned right between the taller woman's pair of developed breasts.

Oh joy.

The woman hugged her tight and it was becoming increasingly awkward while she was trying to hold Robbie's hand who was tugging on her arm rather harshly.

And what's even worse, Rosile could feel the blood flow through both of her breasts so prominently that it was like someone was running water over her face when the blood ran under the women's skin.

Rosile had to endure it for only a few more moments until she heard a muffled "_Mom, _You're crushing her" from the scratchy voiced boy.

The woman immediately let go and blushed, wiping off her beautiful midnight blue yukata and smiling brightly at Rosile.

The woman was tall and fairly beautiful, having subtle things about her face that made her feminine and nice looking, her hair was brown and she had almost black eyes, much like Shikamaru and her hair was a light brown, falling into a low ponytail at the small of her back, a few stray hairs escaping and brushing her eyes.

Now that Rosile thought about it, Shikamaru did say 'Mom', so this lady must be his mother, there were small similarities about them she guessed.  
Although Shikamaru didnt greet her with large hugs that suffocated her.

The woman held out her hand with a polite smile, "You must be Rosile, my name is Yoshino Nara, Shikamaru's mother."

Rosile smiled back and took her hand gently, feeling Yoshino give a tight grip and shake it before making a little high-pitched noise in her throat, leaning forward to pinch one of Rosile's cheeks, making her wince in the slight pain it brought her.

"You're so pretty darling!" Yoshino gushed, Rosile blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear, Looking down and having no idea what the hell she was meant to do with her free hand at the moment.

Should she push the older woman way?

"Oh.. n-not really-" Rosile started and was interrupted by Yoshino's smooth and gentle tone.

"Nonsense dear, Shikamaru, isn't she pretty?"

Yoshino asked, giving her son a pointed look to which Shikamaru looked away and shrugged stiffly, offering Rosile no help for his mother's attack on her .

It was then Robbie decided to make himself known.

Standing in front of her, Robbie got in between Rosile and Yoshino, forcing the older woman's hand to drop from Rosile's cheek, only to give the woman one of his glares and folded his arms tightly, with a look that he probably thought meant 'business'.

Yoshino looked down at the small curly-haired boy for a moment and Rosile worried by the look on the woman's face that Robbie had offended her, opening her mouth ready for a swift apology when the woman squealed and leaned down to pinch the boys own cheek in excitement.

"Oh aren't you just _adorable_ Mr! You must be Robert!" She chuckled, taking to notice when Robbie weakly struggled and tried to pull the woman off of his face, the whole thing looked completely funny but Rosile felt that she didn't have enough energy to laugh, she could feel her seal itch on her back again.

Shikamaru, it seemed, wanted to be the hero and groaned loud enough to gain everyone's attention, giving his mother a dry look, "They're tired from their days _Mom_, give them some space" he commented.

Yoshino then gave him a look and the boy seemed to freeze, Rosile wondered what that was about but didn't have enough time since the woman lightly took hold of Robbie's lunchbox and checked inside to find the thing empty.

Her face beamed with happiness and Rosile didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

After taking Rosile's and checking that box too, finding it empty she gave them both a warm smile, "You ate all of your lunch! ill have to make you some tomorrow!" she announced, throwing the boxes at Shikamaru who didn't react fast enough and got hit in the stomach hard, grunting with the impact and sending his mother a dirty look.

And with the way her eyebrow twitched Rosile had a feeling that somehow, Yoshino saw it, even with her back to him.

"Oh really, you don't have t-" Rosile started but was again interrupted by Yoshino's voice insisting-

"How does bento sound?"

Rosile was beginning to get where Shikamaru got his interrupting thing from, she also felt kind of bad for the guy.

Rosile would have tried to protest when Shikamaru gave her a look and shook his head from side to side, a clear 'no' and she turned back to Yoshino with a polite smile.

"Um Sure, that sounds great thank you"

Yoshino clapped happily and nodded, "Alright then! You two go get cleaned up and get a good nights sleep. I'll get Shikamaru to drop it off tomorrow morning" she said and pretended not to hear Shikamaru's groan behind her.

Rosile nodded and tried not to laugh at her new friends misfortune, he really had an overbearing mother, she was hard to say no to.

Well, she wasn't the type of person you wanted to say no to.

"Thank you so much Mrs Nara. I'll see you tomorrow Shikamaru" Rosile said, all while dragging Robbie back who was mumbling lowly under his breath.

Yoshino said a happy goodbye while Shikamaru merely waved lazily with a scratchy 'yeah' coming from his lips.

Rosile didn't miss how Yoshino tapped the back of his head a little harshly and began dragging him home by the back of his shirt, giggling a little, Rosile pulled Robbie inside and instructed the boy to go have a shower.

Only just then, as she scratched her seal.

Before today she hadn't laughed since her father died.

* * *

**Let me know guys, I love it!**

**Take Care,**

**-PrincessJade**


	6. Chapter 6- Wake Up Time

**I am so sorry for the freaking lateness of this chapter.**

**The reason? One word: Avengers. And school.**

**And if you know me then you'd know that Batman and Marvel are my life. And Shikamaru of course ;)**

**To Shayde F. Revelle, Im actually glad you said that. **

**Their last name is Snow, but originally I wanted it to be Yuki (Which on google translate is Snow) but I debated whetherit would confuse people or not?**

**Guys, tell me if you think I should change it to Yuki.**

**Rosile's was named by her mother, why comes later.**

**But Robbie's name is Robert which means - Bright Fame.**

**I just like the idea of Robbie being bright like Naruto, full of energy and such, and it felt like it made sense to have both their names start with 'Ro'?**

**But yes, the names are western, I hope it's not too distracting.**

**Be sure to tell me :)**

* * *

The previous night had gone easily.

Rosile and Robbie had spent the night making his new room comfortable and then made dinner together, Robbie telling her about his day at ninja academy and all the people in his class.

He even made a friend, a young boy named Konohamaru.

Rosile found herself smiling with genuine happiness for once in a long time, happy that both her and Robbie had both found a friend and that maybe it wouldn't be so hard trying to live here without their Dad.

She had sent the smaller boy to have a shower and after he climbed into bed she'd read him a story they'd found in one of the many boxes lying around.

After lulling the boy to sleep with words of a far away land Rosile kissed his head and tucked him in again, turning off the light but leaving the door askew, the light still on so that he wouldn't get lost if he felt the need to seek her out in the night.

Rosile showered, revelling in the way the heated water felt on her seal, weirded out by it but also thankful that it wasnt itching like crazy in those moments.

Then she'd gone to bed, grateful for the soft sheets and the thick blanket over her that tricked her body into thinking that she wasnt alone.

And secretly she'd smiled when a small warm body with the scent of rain crawled into bed with her and attached itself to her waist.

She wondered how long it would take poor Robbie to sleep by himself again.

* * *

"Rosile.."

Rosile reached out, her limbs heavy and her eyes tired but she forced them up, crawling towards the familiar female voice calling out to her in the distance.

Fog filled her vision and the smell of blood was clogging her lungs, threatening to get inside her with how prominent it was.

Something was curling around her ankles and she'd cried out in shock, only just then noticing that her feet were bareand made her feel even more vulnerable.

"Rosile.."

She crawled faster, becoming desperate to escape whatever was trying to pull her back and tried to call out to the voice whispering her name softly but something was caught in her throat, preventing her from letting out the scream building inside.

She tried to see what was pulling her back but all that she could see was the shadow of two hands wrapped around each of her ankles, pulling her back with an invisible force and incredible strength.

"Rosile.."

Somehow, not knowing what was pulling her made her more afraid and she dug her fingers into the dirt beneath her, fighting with her upper strength to just make it to whoever was calling for her. She'd save Rosile right?

"Rosie"

That wasnt a females voice..

But netherless, Rosile kept fighting, only stopping when she felt something force itself from her throat and she gagged, coughing violently into her hand until the feeling past.

"Rosie!"

And looking down into her hand, Rosile had to hold in a sob.

Her fingers were covered in a thin red substance.

She'd been choking on blood.

"ROSIE!"

"ROSIE!"

* * *

Rosile's eyes fluttered when she felt herself being called, her heart speeding up when she heard the unmistakable voice of her little brother in obvious distress.

Her body jolted and she sat up quickly, shaking off her head rush and scanned dazily around the room for her brother, only calming down when she spotted him huddled in the corner in his bright blue pajamas while holding onto one of her pillows.

Rosile stared blankly at him for a few moments, momentarily distracted on how cute the little ducks on his shirt and matching pants made him look and how his white hair was stuck up on the left side from laying on the pillow.

It was only when he cried out her name again and pointing to the thing that had him cornered with a pillow as his only protection when she actually came back to reality.

There, in the middle of the room and looking extremely intimidating was a Giant-Motherfucking-Spider.

Rosile's eyes widened and she felt the hairs on every part of her body rise in fear, her body going into fight-or-flight mode and Rosile's instinctual reaction was just to RUN FOR HER LIFE.

But she couldn't do that, because a fear of spiders seemed to run in her mothers gene's and Robbie was also deathly afraid of the little creeps, that much was obvious by the way he was innocently cowering in the corner looking a second away from tears.

Rosile's first thought was to call for her father, but with a stab of pain she realised that it was no longer possible to do that.

So she had to man up and kill the stupid thing.

Breathing slowly, Rosile rose from the bed, swinging her legs off the bed and shivering when her bare feet came into contact with the cold hardwood floor.

She knew she shouldnt look at it for it would only make things worse, but her eyes kept stealing glances and each time her fear spiked ten times higher.

It was big, larger than the palm of her hand, Okay her hands werent that big but still, and it was a light tan colour with long thick legs stretching out slowly towards Robbie.

Hairs were visible on the fat thing and Rosile averted her gaze for a moment to search for something appropriate to kill the thing with.

But the more her fear rose, the more her stupid seal began to itch, and the more the was aware that the spider had blood.

Barely a nail polish vial amount of blood flowed through the arachnid but it was enough for Rosile to notice and enough to make her even more afraid of the thing.

Setting her eyes on a large book Rosile immediately pounced on it, clutching the hard covered book so tightly in her hands that her fingers turned white and clenching her teeth so hard they began to ache.

You can do this.. You can do this.. Come on Rosie.. You can do this.. Robbie's stuck.. No one else is gona help you..

The spider inched closer to Robbie, the boy looking torn between wanting to throw the pillow at it but not wanting to losehis only form of a shield against the bug.

Rosile slid a little closer, book poised to kill and her heart beating in her chest like mad.

You can do it, you can do it, you can do i-

Suddenly it jumped to the side and both siblings screamed in shock, Rosile dropping the book and hopping backwards in fear.

Robbie had instantly shot up, threw the pillow at it and ran into her arms meanwhile Rosile grabbed hold of the smaller boy, hoisting him up enough so that she could hold him properly and began to run like their lives depended on it.

The hardwood protested loudly with her feet connecting with it hard as she fled through the hall as quickly as she could, barely noticing how quick Robbie's blood was flowing right now and went down the stairs two steps at a time, not stopping until they made it to the living room and she collapsed onto the couch with a deep breath of relief.

Robbie, still clutching to her, was also breathing very heavy and looked as if he were about to cry.

Rosile petted his hair soothingly and hushed him gently, pulling his smaller body closer and doing her best to calm the frightened boy.

Robbie was a very simple creature, and up until early last year Rosile could have easily described him; the boy liked to play on parks, build block towers and could eat noodles by the bucket full.

He never had any interest of being anything in particular and only really focused on having fun and getting closer to their father.

And then suddenly he wanted to be a Shinobi.

It came as a shock to everyone, even their step-mother.

He announced it at the dinner table and refused to go to school or eat unless they accepted it and supported him.

Rosile hadn't even hesitated, of course she'd support him in everything he ever wanted to do. But it was only natural that she worried for him.

Being a Shinobi was his thing and now the Hokage wanted her to begin some training with one, she could only imagine how that must make him feel, what was going in that head of his?

Other than fear of that nasty spider in Rosile's/their bedroom.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind, something she hadn't even thought about before.

What if there was an actual threat that came to get Robbie one day?

What if her step mother came back to finish the job?

What if Rosile couldn't beat her?

Perhaps that was what the Hokage was thinking about all along, that while Robbie was training to protect her, she could train to protect him while he worked to get there.

Because right now, if the spider incident was anything to go by, if they were to be ambushed in the near future, taken completely by surprise, Rosile and Robbie both would never stand a single chance.

She had to step up for now, to protect her brother, because they didn't have dad, they didn't have protection and theydidn't have any clue as to where their step mother was right now. All they had was each other.

And Rosile wasnt about to have Robbie fight for their lives.

A knock on the door broke her thoughts and she realised that Robbie had long since fallen back into a peaceful slumber on top of her, his head resting on her shoulder and a string of drool hanging from his lips.

The knock came again and Rosile slowly and as gently as possible lay Robbie down onto the sofa, careful not to wake him before skulking over to the door to answer it when another insistent knock came.

Rosile had no idea why in the world she was surprised, it wouldn't have been anyone else at her front door knocking for her and Robbie.

Shikamaru stood there looking bored per usual holding out their lunch impatiently, waving it a little when she didn't take it in the first moments.

Rosile took it and was at a loss for words at the moment, she really wasnt ready to go yet since she was still in her sleep wear, and neither was Robbie, he was sleeping on the sofa with a bed head the side of a mountain.

And all of their stuff was in their bedroo-

Holy shit the spider.

Holy shit their clothes and belongings were in there.

Holy shit she was not going to go get them with that monstrosity in there.

"I know im early, must have set my alarm clock too early." Shikamaru stated, his mouth opening widely as he yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head and closing his eyes. "How troublesome" he said before scratching his jaw.

It was then he seemed to actually look her up and down and he raised an eyebrow, his hands smoothing into his pockets and his back falling back into its usual slouch, "You're going like that?"

Rosile felt something click in her head.

"Are you afraid of spiders?" she asked cautiously, and she watched his face go from questioning to completely confused in only a few seconds, his body leaning forward and his expression scrunching up.

"What?" he breathed, his tone going to a higher pitch, and Rosile rolled her eyes, a little worked up from her rude awakening and thinking about how the hell she was going to get herself and Robbie ready before they really had to go.

"Are you scared of spiders?" she rushed out, feeling her feet tap a little impatiently and watched as his brows furrowed more, leaning his head forward a little as if wondering what the hell she was on or something.

"No?" He said it like a question and Rosile quickly grabbed him, taking him by the arm and dragging him into the house, not bothering to ask him to take off his shoes and idly dropping their lunch boxes on a nearby table.

She ignored his questions as she dragged him up the stairs and towards her room, only loosening her grip when he stood in the threshold of her bedroom and she was hiding behind him.

"Its my room." Rosile mumbled into his back, pointing into the depths of her room all the while Shikamaru gave her a look of complete and utter skepticism, his eyes wide and his brows furrowed like she was an insane person.

It was obvious he had no idea what the _hell_ she was doing.

With a desperate look in her eyes and waved her arms around like frantically, growing more anxious by the second.

She had to get herself and Robbie dressed and fed before they even thought about leaving.

"Theres a spider in the room!" she whispered harshly, for some reason her voice had lowered to a mere whisper and she was glaring at him as if he were doing something wrong, which was not the case.

The poor guy.

"So?" he asked, his voice once again pitching higher than usual and he looked so put out, as if going in there like any male should and kill the scary spider to save the day and be the hero was the most strenuous job in the world.

Rosile gave him the most incredulous look she could muster and stared him down with it, her own voice bordering on desperation, "So? So kill the spider!" she whisper-yelled.

Shikamaru gave her one last look from top to bottom before sighing so heavily she couldn't stop herself rolling her eyes and put his hands back in his pockets before sauntering in with the slouchiest walk she'd ever seen.

She wasn't particularly staring at him yesterday and hadn't noticed most of his habits, only now realizing that his eyes were default with a droopy look and he walked with a weird swagger that made her inwardly dub him the epitome of laziness.

With a unique voice and scent.

Oh Jeez, now she was thinking about his scent, and that led to her thinking about his blood.

It was beginning to drive her crazy since it was all she could feel now.

Feel the people walk past her house taking a little longer than necessary to look in her windows, wondering who inhabited the large place and the two new inhabitants that hadn't explored town yet.

Rosile had to keep herself from grabbing the broom she used to clean the kitchen floor and hurl it at them while yelling at them to 'mind their own business'' because their blood was driving her insane.

And that probably wouldn't look good to the Hokage.

That and Mizukage Mei would be so ashamed of her.

While Rosile watched Shikamaru search the room, slowly she might add, she let herself wonder what Mizukage Mei was doing right now, it was Wednesday, and on Wednesdays she used to come in for a late brunch with Rosile's father and they'd chat about business while her father Damien would cook her something new each time.

Rosile suspected once that Mei had been her mother and asked her father about it, only to be shut down quickly by an angry look before Father began to ramble on about her mother.

It was always the same thing.

Brown eyes like tree bark, darker than Rosile's with hazel hair with natural curls even though she would brush through it a million times while it was wet to try and get it straight, it was no use, a physical trait Rosile had herself.

Her mother had supposedly been tall like her dad, something Rosile didn't get for some reason since she was barely 5 feet tall with a voice like wind, smooth and calming.

And Father always said she liked trees.

'Just like me' Rosile thought, 'Father said i was just like her'

Pain.

The pain of her father was still there and she found it increasingly difficult to repress it.

Anger welling up from her gut and her seal beginning to itch like crazy.

Rosile began to panic, she didn't want to feel the same pain she had yesterday, it had been unbearable, she had to stop it but she had no idea how and-

A loud muffled blow knocked Rosile out of her thoughts and turning to place where the noise came from, a scary thought of a bookcase squashing Robbie came to mind and Rosile prepared to run downstairs when a bored lookingShikamaru came out of the room with a definitely dead spider resting on top of a book.

"What d'ya want me to do with it?" he asked tiredly and Rosile had to stop for a moment.

Everything was happening at once in her head but when Shikamaru came into her vision it was like she was able to focus again.

She couldn't help but feel grateful.

Without any warning Rosile launched herself at the unexpecting Shikamaru and wrapped her arms around his neck, his height forcing her to jump and he wad forced to try and hold her own weight, his arms dropping the book and the spider to steady her with firm hands on her hips, his leg stepping back to reduce the push.

He exclaimed a shocked "Hey!" as she did this and Rosile would have answered if Shikamaru hadn't lost his balance and toppled backwards, him landing on his back on the wooden bedroom floor with Rosile following suit not a moment after.

She heard him grunt in pain and her eyes widened in shock.

Oh no she'd hurt him.

This wasn't how good, stable friendships began.

With a worried expression all while muttering apologies Rosile pushed herself up and placed herself so that she was hovering over him, her knee's on either side of his hips and her fingers instinctively touching his exposed skin to feel the blood better.

She had no idea what she was doing but allowed her fingers to know what to do, shushing his when he protested and easily finding bruises with her fingers, sensing the blood underneath her skin.

Her fingers trailed up his neck to the back of his head and found another bruise, determining where they were and how bad they were.

So far there was a large bruise on the both of his elbows, one on his butt, to which Rosile blushed when she almost ran her fingers over it without realizing, and one on the back of his head.

With a sinking feeling that he may have a concussion Rosile held him down with her hands and gave him a stern look, "Don't move, just stay there for a few minutes" she ordered, feeling like a professional and rejecting the thought.

Rosile didn't want to be a doctor.

With a roll of her eyes she grumbled inwardly, "then I'd never get away from blood"

Shikamaru groaned in reply and closed his eyes, and Rosile was half expecting him to get mad at her for knocking him over like that, instead he merely lay back as if he'd meant to all along and raised to put his hands under his head but his elbows protested, or so she noticed when his blood heated.

Rosile quickly got up and moved over to the bed where Robbie had thrown his pillow earlier, ignoring the cold hardwood floor on her bare feet and picking up the pillow.

"Move your head" she murmured, worried that if she spoke too loud that it might hurt his head and placed her hand under his head to lift it a little with him to slide the pillow underneath his head so that it wouldn't irritate the bruise as much.

Shikamaru mumbled a 'thanks' tiredly, already half asleep and Rosile giggled lightly to herself, watching the boy fall asleep.

He reminded her of Robbie in that moment with how much younger he looked when he wasn't drooping his eyes like he was fifty years old and Rosile wondered if she should kiss him on the cheek like she did to Robbie at night.

Shaking that off she raised and got out some of Robbie's clothes and some of her own.

Getting ready was the priority right now since hey, she had to meet her sensei today.

* * *

**So yeah, that happened.**

**And I realize that the whole blood thing might be a little annoying but the point is that it's annoying _her_ as well.**

**Nonetheless, that's all for now folks.**

**Please Review, I REALLY love to see them :)**

**Take Care,**

**-PrincessJade.**


	7. Chapter 7- Tickly

**To all my readers! Hello and I am sorry for the late update.**

**I have messed up internet and its driving me crazy.**

**BUUUUT here it is and i want to say a big thank you to PLBOOKS who actually reviewed :)**

**I havent really been getting reviews and I'm not sure if anybody is even reading it :/**

**But on a better note, here's the next chapter..**

* * *

Waking Robbie up always proved to be a challenge.

For one the boy snored like a wildebeest sometimes and he loved sleep like it was the closest thing you could get to heaven.

Rosile could remember every time her father would attempt to wake him up safely would be to have steaming ramen with fresh vegetables wafting into his unconscious nose and he'd follow it like a little duckling to its mother.

Unfortunately Rosile wasn't the best cook and even if she was she had neglected the grocery list yesterday while she herself had been unconscious and there wasnt much to go with.

So, Rosile opted to carry his tired body towards the kitchen counter and set him atop it, haphazardly dressing him while he mumbled sleepily and had to force his hands away when he tried to cuddle back up to her in his sleep.

Once his shirt and pants were on and she began putting his sandals on she must have accidentally tickled between his toes for in the next moment the boy jolted and kicked out at her, sending Rosile falling backwards and landing hard on her back.

A groan rumbled from her throat as she slid her elbows out to raise off the cold wooden ground from underneath her, her back feeling the pain of the impact and she felt a sympathy for knocking over Shikamaru the same way not a few minutes before.

Robbie it seemed had fully woken now and was currently rubbing his sleepy eyes with the back of his left hand while his right stayed firmly steady on the counter to keep him upright, a loud yawn falling from his lips before his eyes opened properly and Rosile was graced with the cute innocent face of her 7-year-old brother looking as confused as ever.

"Rosie?" he asked, his voice in a higher pitch from sleep and his arms reaching out to embrace her again.

With a sigh, Rosile raised from the ground, unable to be mad at her brother and embraced him in a hug, running her fingers through his soft bed hair that was almost blinding now that the sun had come through the window and was reflecting off of the white tresses.

With a small kiss to his head she gave him a big smile, "Ready for school my little Shinobi?" She teased, walking over to put some toast on for him and began to haphazardly wash her face in the kitchen sink and pull on her clothes for the day which consisted of a long-sleeved white shirt that was a tight fit but still movable, and black tight leggings that went to the middle of her calf.

Tying up her dark long hair which was tangled from the night before and this morning's ruckus so that it was out of her face Rosile deemed herself presentable before the toast popped from the toaster and she asked Robbie idly what he wanted on his two pieces.

Robbie, who had been watching her get ready with the still-half-asleep face and his mouth wide open from daydreaming, folded his legs to sit Indian-style and thought very hard for a moment, his elbows resting on his knees and his head resting on his left hand while his eyebrows frowned in thought.

Rosile rolled her eyes, it was a habit he'd got from their dad.

He used to take far too long to decide on what he wanted to eat and every time it never failed to frustrate Rosile beyond belief.

The thought of their dad made her seal itch.

"Jam!" Robbie announced and sat up straight like he'd just told her the answer to cure cancer or something.

Rosile rolled her eyes, handing him the toast and giving him a small kiss on the forehead before making her way up the stairs to go and wake the other boy in her house up so that the could leave soon.

She got caught up in thinking about what her dad would say about her having a _boy_ in the house along with her without an adult present.

Any normal parent would probably go banana's about it but since Rosile's dad was nobody but himself, he would have probably sat the boy down at the dinner table, cooked him some eccentric dish and talk about the young mans interests and hobbies, waiting patiently for the boy to leave and then pounce on Rosile once he left to ask just how emotionally invested she was with him.

Her father was pretty easygoing and not one to shy away from new challenges, unlike her, but the best thing was that he never judged and always smiled.

And her seal was itching again.

Walking up the stairs and noting that the wallpaper was much too pale she found Shikamaru curled up exactly where she'd left him in her room, head resting on her pillow while his arms were folded under his head while he looked like he was having the best dream of his life.

But before she even had time to start thinking again she was hit by his scent, the musky tree one that threatened to knock her over when she breathed too much of it in.

She wondered why the hell it was _his_ scent that always managed to catch her off guard but as she thought her feet were involuntarily taking her closer to the boy to get a better inhale.

Rosile felt extremely creepy with how she was literally watching him sleep and _smelling_ him as he did so, and was quick to back off and shake her head to clear out the memory of his scent and peaceful face while he was sleeping.

It had to be something to do with his blood right? Since that was the whole thing about the seal, that she could sense blood again.

Yes, it must have.

Walking the couple of steps left until the tips of her toes were touching his leg Rosile knelt down and as lightly as she could, ran her fingers down the skin of his arm to wake him.

It was an impulse, but as she was doing it deja vu hit her and it was almost as if she'd seen it before, a beautiful woman running her fingers down her fathers arm..

Shikamaru mumbled, his own hand reaching out and his warm fingers barely brushing her hand in response.

Rosile froze.

It was an innocent action on his part and there was no was he would've done it on purpose but why did it feel so.. weird.

Her skin felt as if it had pins and needles and she wondered if everybody felt like this when they made new friends.

Doing it again Shikamaru's eyes peeked open and he stared at her for a few moments, before arching an eyebrow as if asking her why the hell she had woken him up for.

Bringing her tingling hand around to her back and hiding it as if she held something she didn't want him to see, feeling her seal itch but resisting the urge she cleared her throat.

"We should probably go now"

* * *

Robbie skipped off to his class without much prodding, very excited to go and hang out with his friend Konohamaru and left with a toothy smile and a large wave.

The road towards the training grounds was a tense one.

Rosile was well aware that Shikamaru was watching her tensely for any indication that she was going to fall down screaming again and Rosile understood completely, she was quite nervous about it too.

But she knew as long as her step-mother stayed out of her thoughts, nothing bad was going to happen.

Not that it made the walk any less awkward though.

On the way there Rosile got to thinking about how her hand had felt when she'd brushed it against his arm, did it _mean _something? Was it to do with his blood? Did he had a particular type of blood that made her feel like she'd just gotten a lot of small electric shocks over her arm.

It wasn't as if she could just outright ask him, how weird would that be?

_"Uh hey, Shikamaru, why does your blood make me feel all tickly?"_

Yeah, she didn't see that as going too smoothly.

And what was up with the arm thing, she _knew _she had seen it before. It was like a dream that she could remember but couldn't _actually_ remember and it was driving her insane.

She knew it was her father, that much was certain to her.

Rosile could remember waking from a nightmare and going to seek out her father, quietly pushing open the door to find a woman stroking his arm like she had to Shikamaru to wake her father up.

She remembered her fathers face so clearly, but when she tried to imagine what the woman's face looked like her mind came up blank, like the features had been erased or something.

It was certainly not her stepmother, since her stepmother was not as slender as the woman had been that night, and her stepmother didn't have curly hair like Rosile's.

It nagged her for the whole walk to the training grounds.

But what she didn't realize, was how hot the seal had gotten as she was thinking.

* * *

Asuma-sensei looked every bit of impressive as he had yesterday.

Same tall bulky stature, same muscled limbs and he also had a cigarette hanging from his lip.

There were also two other people gawking at her from behind him that Rosile was becoming more and more tense with by the second.

The first was a boy, not so much gawking as glancing at her every few seconds he was chewing since he continued to stuff his mouth with a large handful of chips after every swallow.

He was a chubby fellow with a brown hair color lighter than hers which was styled into two little tuffs on either side of his head where his headband allowed.

Rosile noted she would easily identify him with the spiral patterns on his chubby cheeks which were a deep red, but the scowl of his eyes didn't suggest he was very friendly.

The girl on the other hand was a complete other story.

Blond, and beautiful already for a girl a year younger than Rosile.

Her long blond hair shone vibrantly in the Konoha sun and her pale skin without a flaw, with bright blue eyes that held a doe like nature to them. She didn't look Shinobi material at all.

Perhaps this would be easier than Rosile anticipated.

Maybe she wouldn't need to worry about Robbie at all.

Asuma drew a drag from his cigarette and straightened, "Ino and Chojil, this is Rosile Snow, from Kirigakure. She's going to be tagging along with our team for a few weeks until after the Chunnin Exams"

Asuma's voice was gruff and seemingly robotic, sounding much more like orders than a suggestion and Rosile had no idea what to make of him yet.

Choji, it seemed, merely stared at her while Ino blinked a few times dumbly.

Rosile felt like crawling into a hole, this was the worst thing ever, why the hell did she even agree to this in the first place? She wasn't a-

A high-pitched squeal rung out in the silence and before Rosile had time to identify it she was tackled by the blond beauty who was currently squashing her with her body weight.

This would be the third time she'd landed on the ground today.

"Oh this is so great! Finally a girl who will understand me and notice how much I do for this-"

A throat clearing broke the girl from her rant.

Asuma sent Ino a dry look and she replied with her own sheepish one and held out one hand to help Rosile up.

Ino had quite a high-pitched voice that suggested she may be high-strung, but in Rosile's opinion men generally gravitated towards women who were high-strung and beautiful.

Perhaps she should try and make friends with Ino as well.

Before she had a chance to ask, Asuma spoke up again, "Well before you guys go crazy with her I'll need to take a look for myself at that seal of yours Rosile."

Oh. He was asking if she was okay with it in a subtle way.

Rosile shrugged and moved to lift the back of her shirt for Asuma to examine and the other two come over either side to see first hand.

Ino bouncing excitedly while looking engrossed and Choji well.. Choji sort of watched and ate.

And Shikamaru had disappeared behind a tree to nap sometime before, leaving her to fend for herself in the midst of these strangers.

She wasn't sure if that was what 'friends' do.

Asuma's fingers brushed against her seal, a small frown donning his face and Rosile felt herself tense up under the scrutiny, she really wanted to know what it was.

"You don't remember how you got this?" he asked, smoke coming out from his lips as he spoke and blowing right into the direction of her face, making her cough as she shook her head 'no'.

Asuma-sensei straightened and raised a finger to his lip, a contemplating expression donning his face and Rosile wondered just what the Leaf was planning to do about all this.

Well, she did know that they were going to remove it the day after tomorrow, but Asuma did say something about an exam as well.

This was just so much to take in.

"Well," Asuma said his tone of voice suggesting the seal talk was over and Rosile took that as a hint that she could drag her shirt back over her body. "The first step to becoming a Shinobi is finding your chakra" he said.

Rosile merely stared at him for a few seconds before exclaiming,

"My what?"

* * *

**Let me know _Please_ :)**

**-PrincessJade**


	8. Chapter 8- Chakra and Taijutsu? Great

**Okay so nobody really reviewed on the last chapter, I'm going to be honest, that kind of hurts.. **

**But a BIG thanks to shirohara who DID! WHOOOO. Thank gosh for you otherwise I would have taken all month to update.**

**And to shirohara- I'm so glad you like it! Thank you so much!**

**I want to also say that if you have any questions i'll answer them here but I'm not giving spoilers.. probably.. No I wont :)**

**And please don't hesitate to tell me what you think :)**

**Kind of boring but.. things happen**

* * *

Chapter 8: Chakra.

"Focus on your core.."

Rosile rolled her eyes. She'd been focusing on her core for about three hours now and yet there had been no results.

She sat in a meditating way with her legs crossed over one another, her hands in a 'Chakra Honing' pose and her eyes squeezed shut in concentration.

And if Rosile's father had been here to see her, he would probably make some joke about her needing to take a shit or something.

Her dad was so crass.

"Perhaps you should breath shallower?" Asuma suggested, probably running out of things to encourage her with as his other pupils were doing some 'team building' exercise and Rosile was able to hear Ino yelling at the boys from way over in the forest.

She wondered if Ino was really as sweet as she came across.

She was slightly glad that Asuma hadn't initiated any blood tests yet and decided only to train her in basic Shinobi training first.

Taking shallower breaths Rosile continued to _feel_ for her Chakra, but only succeeding in becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of _anything_ during this exercise. All she did feel was the long grass tickling the bare skin of her ankles, the sun bearing down on her covered back and a drop of sweat dripping down her neck.

But when she heard a loud sigh Rosile came to the conclusion that Asuma was frustrated as well.

The man in a similar position across from her in the training grounds, his head resting boredly in his hands while they leaned on his knees.

His expression one that made her feel guilty for making him wait this long.

The only thing she _could_ concentrate on was his freaking _blood_.

She hadn't been thinking about it before and somehow didn't notice Ino and Choji's blood when she'd met them but now it was almost overpowering since she was focusing on it.

His was one of tobacco unsurprisingly, maybe the fact that he smoked so much had gotten into his blood and now he would forever have the scent of burning cigarette.

"Why don't we try taijutsu?" he suggested.

Rosile instantly let go of her pose and let out a sigh of relief, happy to finally be able to do something productive and not just sitting here looking for something that she was sure _wasn't_ there.

Both of them raised and Asuma called for her other teammates, Rosile stretching her legs and feeling the tingly feeling you had in your legs when you had been sitting too long.

She was probably going to get pins and needles.

Shikamaru, Ino and Choji didn't take long to get over to where Rosile was and Asuma pulled out a lighter to light up a fresh new cigarette, taking a long drag before putting it safely into his pants again.

"Alright, here's how it's going to go." Asuma drawled, his voice low and smooth, filling her ears pleasantly and distracting her from getting a whiff of her new teammates scents although she expected Shikamaru's almost overpowering one anyway.

For some reason she would always smell it no matter what.

"There are gonna be two teams. Ino and Choji versus Shikamaru and Rosile" she felt the eyes of Shikamaru eye her for a moment before facing his sensei again "both teams get six minutes to strategize before you come and find each other. Go"

Suddenly Ino, Choji and Asuma-sensei jumped away and out of sight, leaving her and Shikamaru in the open feild, Rosile staring blankly around looking for the other three while Shikamaru merely sighed in annoyance.

This was a little sudden, didn't Asuma want to at least give her the basics or something? Rosile had no idea how the hell she was going to compete with two Gennins who had trained their entire lives for this sort of thing.

And pairing her with Shikamaru? he didn't strike Rosile as the expert in taijutsu or anything, even though she had just learnt the word not twenty minutes ago but-

Rosile was pulled by the back of her shirt into the cover of some bushes and after being pulled a little more roughly than expected, went down on her butt and face to face with an aggravated looking Shikamaru.

_Oh god I can sell him so strongly when he's this close._

Rosile could smell the old woody smell and her stomach began doing flips again, her mouth watering much to her displeasure and she held her breath to keep from being discovered.

_How embarrassing._

"How much taijutsu do you know?"

Rosile froze. Should she tell him the truth? Should she lie and say that she knew an astonishing amount so that he didn't think she was stupid or lame or something along those lines.

Did friends lie to each other?

"Well?" he asked, his patience thinning and Rosile jumped little, feeling her decision weigh on her until she finally admitted lamely, "No. I- I don't know any"

Well, it was out there now and Rosile felt as if she had failed him.

Although he showed no change in his facial expression she suspected that he must've been a little bit annoyed with her lack of training.

Now he was required to do most of the work.

"Okay" he merely said, crouching down next to her and closing his eyes, his hands coming forth in a circular shape and his eyebrows furrowing in concentration.

Rosile didn't dare to speak.

His scent gave of a vibe as to 'not disturb' him at the moment and she was content to just sit with her legs hugged to her chest, looking awkwardly around as he 'strategized'.

Well that's what she assumed he was doing, but her best bet was that they only had a few more minutes since she'd spent a few dawdling around.

Rosile began counting to bide her time, starting at 100 and counting down, waiting patiently for Shikamaru to open his eyes and tell her what to do since she had no clue to what she should do with herself.

She began attempting to find her chakra once more, doing exactly what she had been doing with Asuma before but instead of focusing on herself, she found herself focusing on his scent and his blood.

Which to her, felt disgusting and perverted but pushed through it in favor of connecting his scent to her seal and how her body reacted to it.

In mere moments Rosile felt her blood pulse around her seal and if she hadn't been sitting already, the shock would have sent her down to the ground.

She could _feel_ her blood attempting to get rid of the seal somehow and the image made her itch it, the itching satisfying herself more when her blood calmed a little with it.

She would have explored more if she didn't feel a warm hand nudge her gently to pull her out of meditation, a blank faced Shikamaru looking her in the eyes and kneeling a little too close for comfort.

"So here's how this is gonna go-"

* * *

Rosile walked through the trees alone and did her best to act as natural as possible without making any indication that she was faking.

Shikamaru had dubbed her the 'distraction' and that he would do the rest if she merely walked around and called his name out at small intervals.

He also complained a bunch before she actually left but what did she expect? This _was_ Shikamaru.

Stepping over a few branches and seeing nothing but the expenses of trees all around her Rosile got the feeling she was being watched, and not only that but.. hunted.

She knew in the back of her mind that Shikamaru was watching her but had no clue where the other two could possibly be.

Rosile had tried to sense where the blood was but due to a weird fatigue she never knew she could get, her head ached from all of this sensing and visualizing stuff.

She knew for a fact that Asuma-sensei would be watching her to determine her taijutsu skills, of which she totally lacked and forced herself not to feel embarrassed by it.

It wasn't her fault that she had no initial training right?

He had to understand that much-

The sound of branches being disturbed stole her attention and she barely saw Ino throwing herself at her at top speed before she was able to jump out of the way just in time.

Rosile landed clumsily, sprawling on the ground and stumbling to lift herself up again before Ino had the chance to come at her with something.

But it seemed Ino was having a good old giggle at how much Rosile sucked at this whole physical training thing and looked as if she was having a hard time keeping her laugh in.

Rosile blushed lightly.

_It isn't my fault.._

Rosile stood awkwardly opposite Ino, waiting tensely for Shikamaru to do something or yell at her to run.

She hadn't asked what to do after she was attacked and was at a loss as to what she was meant to do for Shikamaru's _plan_ to work out, she didn't want to mess it up somehow with her civilian ways.

She didn't want to make her only friend angry with her because she was bad at something.

She didn't even know the fucking plan!

Frustration was filling her and Rosile began sweating, her blood boiling familiarly and she became a little afraid that if Shikamaru didn't hurry up, she would have to go through pain again like the first day they met.

Shikamaru hurry..

And if Rosile had have been standing any further away or been looking away from Ino's body language, Rosile wouldn't have noticed the slow movement of a shadow behind her.

What. The. Hell?

It was so creepy.

Like the spider that woke her and Robbie up this morning it creeped towards Ino's shadow with the poor girl unsuspecting and focusing on Rosile instead of the danger behind her.

There was no telling to what it might do to Ino and Rosile found her mouth opening quickly to warn the girl about it.

But as her eyes followed the path of the shadow she found a concentrating Shikamaru, with his eyebrows clenched and eyes narrowed in focus, his hands pressed together in a sign and the shadow coming out from his own.

Rosile's eyes widened.

Magic.

This was true magic.

She remembered her father telling her stories about Shinobi and their amazing abilities that helped protect civilian's like them but she never imagined something like this.

And then it clicked.

If Ino moved then Shikamaru wouldn't be able to catch her shadow with his.. own shadow.

Oh hell this was weird, Rosile really hoped she wasn't going insane.

It was only inches away from Ino's own shadow btu Ino's body was already tensing in anticipation to pounce on Rosile.

She had to distract Ino.

Blurting the first thing that came to her head she pointed to something in the distance yelling "Look! A giant spider!"

Ino squeaked in fright and jumped back, looking blindly to find the 'Giant Spider' and in her fright, jumped right into the shadow waiting for her.

Ino's body stopped completely and Rosile felt guilt fill her.

She wasn't hurt or anything right?

"Damnit!" Ino protested, looking down at her own shadow to see it expanding and connecting properly with Shikamaru's own shadow.

But Rosile didn't have much time to react, since Ino let out a loud yell of her teammates name and Rosile saw Choji charging at Shikamaru from his side.

Rosile felt her seal itch like crazy to the point where it felt as if it were burning and Shikamaru's blood spike.

She didn't think.

Her mind went blank and her feet ran on their own, moving faster than she knew she possibly could and what she thought was physically possible towards Shikamaru, passing a still Ino.

She didn't panic.

The only things registering was that Shikamaru made a surprised sound from the back of his throat and was probably tensing in preparation for the hard blow Choji had planned for him.

It was like a calm came over her and she skidded to a halt to the side of Shikamaru, in Choji's line of sight where he was headed for the lazy boy.

And when the punch came, her legs crouched and her arms came up, like they always knew how, into a stance where his punch was blocked and didn't hurt her.

And without thinking, her leg lashed out to his shin where he was forced back a bit and with a pained 'Hey!' he retreated back into the tree's.

Rosile blinked.

What the hell just happened?

* * *

Rosile had stayed still for a while, merely staring at her hands like they were hiding something very important and if she looked away for even a second then she might miss it.

How the hell had she done that?

It was as if her body knew something that her mind didn't.

Or more specifically, her blood.

Rosile felt for the seal again as she had before and sensed the blood under her skin boiling from something, the seal itching again and she allowed herself to scratch it, turning to Shikamaru while hoping that he didn't ask her what happened.

Because in all honesty, she had no clue and was merely 'just going with it' since all types of crazy had happened today.

Chakra, Taijutsu, Blood, Sensing, Blocking, too much, no more.

Shikamaru was giving her a wide eyed look, one she expected a question to follow with it but she also noticed a strain in his neck and the sweat that was gathering on his temple.

Looking over his body she noticed that he was slightly trembling and she was quick to point it out to him, walking over to place the back of her hand against his forehead and check his temperature.

And his blood, but that wasn't important.

"Doesn't matter, tie her up" Shikamaru ordered, motioning to his pocket where Rosile suspected some form of rope was in so that she would be able to do as he said.

Opening his pocket Rosile took the sturdy looking rope and walked the few meters to Ino, only hurrying when Shikamaru prompted her with an aggravated sigh and apologized the whole time she wrapped the rope around Ino's hand.

Ino merely gave her a dirty look but complied, and when Rosile nodded to Shikamaru, she heard a relieved sigh leave his mouth and his shadow retracted.

Rosile didn't ask, but _damn_ that was so cool.

Once his shadow was back to normal Shikamaru walked over to Rosile and Ino, his posture going back to slouched and he breathed a little heavier than before.

He gave her a sincere look, "I thought I sensed Choji in another tree but I guess it was a clone, he missed the trap I set, guess I didn't have enough time to think up a proper plan" he explained.

As for why Rosile didn't know but nodded netherless, scanning blindly for Choji who had disappeared into the trees and was nowhere to be seen, for now.

"I can't believe I was saved by a _girl_-" Shikamaru groaned, but looked her in the eyes as he said "but thanks"

Rosile found herself smiling.

Reaching her hand out to nudge his arm awkwardly with affection.

Because that's what friends did right?

And Rosile supposed he would have given her a look but they were side-tracked by the sound of Choji Yelping in the backround, Rosile sending Shikamaru an alarmed look.

Shikamaru merely shrugged, "Guess he got caught in my trap"

* * *

Rosile and Shikamaru walked to Ninja Academy side by side, Rosile holding both their lunch boxes in her left hand.

Training was over and Asuma-sensei had sent her and Shikamaru off with a secretive grin Rosile wasn't sure what to make of, but either way, the fact that she learnt something today made her feel a sense of satisfaction she hadn't felt since she learnt how to make tea for customers.

She could sense her blood better now, and she felt as if she was taking the first step to being able to understand _just_ what was going on with her body.

And if nothing else, since she was able to protect Shikamaru today then maybe if the time ever came she would able to protect Robbie.

The thought was like a weight off her shoulders.

But the more she thought about training, the more she thought of Shikamaru's shadow thing and how awesome it looked, she could imagine Robbie completely fangirling about it and demanding the lazy guy to teach him.

So naturally, with curiosity having something to do with it Rosile found herself asking "What was that thing you did today?"

Shikamaru gave a put out look and sighed, Rosile getting the impression that he either really didn't want to talk about it, or maybe she had underestimated just how lazy her friend was.

Diggin his hands deeper into his pockets Shikamaru shrugged at her, "Its my Kekkei Genkai, the name for the jutsu is-"

"Shikamaru?" Rosile interrupted softly, shrinking a little when he gave her an unimpressed look but indicated that he was listening to her, "Could you um, speak civilian?"

His eyes widened a little and it took him a few more moments to answer her, "Kekkei Genkai, my Blood Limit or Trait per say, lets me use an, uh, Ability. Shadow Possession Jutsu" his eyes pinned her again and Rosile nodded back to him to show him she was following, even though it was somewhat barely.

"When I connect my shadow to another persons, I can manipulate what their body does. It has some setbacks but it can be useful" he explained, his hands stretching out so that they were interlocked behind his head. His eyes closed in a peaceful expression.

Rosile nodded to herself, mulling it over for a moment before curiously asking, "What are the setbacks?"

Shikamaru gave a pained look to the sky, groaning a low "Answering questions is such a drag"

Shirinking a little from his tone, Rosile looked down and brushed her hair behind her ear with her free hand, muttering a little "oh, I'm sorry"

But she felt fingers underneath her chin lift her face up until Shikamaru's face was all she could see, not that he was close, just close enough to lift her face without stretching to far, and gave her a stern look.

"Don't do that"

Rosile blushed.

And what was worse, she could feel every ounce of blood warm her face so prominently that it made her even more embarrassed and she let out a little 'eek' and nodded.

Gosh she couldn't concentrate when he was this close to her.

All she could do was smell his scent and feel his blood pulsing around his body, even more so when his fingers were touching her face.

He looked at her for a few moments more and Rosile was able to see him realize what he was doing and pull back so suddenly that it had almost felt like a push.

He cleared his throat and began walking again.

Rosile had to stop to blink, since she had no idea that they had even stopped, and breathe normally again so that she didn't burn alive with her blush.

"What about you?" he asked her, throwing the attention back on her and Rosile sent him a confused stare, wondering what he was talking about now.

"You said you didn't know any taijutsu" he pressed.

Rosile had to think for a moment.

She didn't want to blurt out the whole blood thing quite yet since she wanted to make sure that their friendship was a lot stronger first, afraid he might run away from her and then this whole thing would have been for nothing.

So she.. left out the main part.

"My body just.. reacted" she said carefully, noting Shikamaru staring her down but kept a straight face.

She wasn't lying, there was nothing wrong with this.

He nodded acceptingly and Rosile gave a sigh, wondering idly why his blood heated in his face when he touched her own with his hands.

* * *

Robbie ran out of the academy with one of his big toothy grins and his curly hair getting in his eyes, his lunch box and bag being trailed behind him and he jumped on her as soon as he was close enough.

Rosile smiled and returned the hug, feeling Robbie squirm when he wanted to be put down and showed her a piece of paper that she hadn't noticed he'd been holding before.

"It's a report! Rosie" he announced proudly, posing a 'strong and manly' pose "I'm doing good in class."

Rosile felt pride swell within her and ruffled his hair, taking hold of his hand and glancing at Shikamaru who took the que to start walking, Robbie beginning to blabber on about his friend Konohamaru and how 'cool' a boy named Naruto was.

Rosile however, actually read the piece of paper to find that not only was it his report in class, but also there was a list of 'ninja things' that he would need if he was going to continue going to the Academy.

Rosile's heart jumped into her throat.

She hadn't even thought about costs of anything yet.

What about the house? What about food? What about clothes? What about Ninja things?

Rosile knew that she had an account with money for the electricity but she had no idea about anything else.

She would have to get a job. And she was bad at everything other than obeying her father.

Sensing Shikamaru give her a curious look at the paper Rosile sent him a fake smile and his the paper in her pocket so that he wouldn't be able to see it.

Shikamaru couldn't know.

Friends didn't ask for things right? So she could do this herself.

For Robbie.

* * *

_Preview-_

_"This is such a drag, but-"_

_and _

_"This is my Dad. Shikaku"_

* * *

**Okay so let me know :)**

**Take Care,**

**PrincessJade.**


	9. Chapter 9- Dinner and walks home

**InARealPickle- I fixed it. Obviously I am new to all of this stuff and it really was just a slip of the mind. But that's why i need people like you to help me improve, thanks for that. And lol, swamp hair XD**

**shirohara- it isn't weird :) I'm trying to keep their relationship going slowish.**

**InitialsS.A.T.- thank you :)**

**I see you see- thank gosh you said she wasnt a mary sue, i was going out of my mind :)**

**httydismylife- I'm so glad you like it! I'm trying my best to keep from making them annoying :)**

* * *

"Robbie could you please put that thing down?" Rosile asked tiredly, her brother had been amped up ever since ninja academy had finished and she was loosing every ounce of patience she had to try to keep him from breaking things in their house.

Although there wasnt much, having sold much of their previous belongings during the move to Konoha there was only the bare minimum in their large cream coloured house.

But everything was a target for the white-haired boy.

With sound effects streaming from his mouth at a constant rate Robbie continued to jump on and off of things and pretend he was taking on several shinobi at a time.

And normally, this wouldn't bother her, if only she hadn't had a headache from focusing on her blood flow all day and Robbie wasnt so intent on using _real_ knives to throw at the walls.

One actually made it at least an inch into the wall where he aimed and he was quick to yell his victory, and although impressive, Rosile really wasnt in the mood to be plastering over holes all day tomorrow.

Or perhaps a few days later depending on how long she slept and how this seal thing went, she wasnt exactly sure and the only thing she was grateful for was the fact that since she'd worn herself out in training today she didn't have the energy to be nervous.

Much.

Even though it was getting removed the day after tomorrow.

Oh lord here we go again.

With a frustrated sigh Rosile asked him again quietly to put down the knives and come and eat dinner with her already, which had been sitting on the table for at least ten minutes now and was probably not so appealing right now.

It wasnt even appealing before it was cold.

Robbie ignored her again and Rosile felt her patience thin some more, she'd had a shower, had Robbie take a shower, made dinner and even out a load of washing on but nothing seemed to make her less agitated.

There was just so much on her plate right now that she could barely stand it.

She was thirteen.

Thirteen years old, almost fourteen who was given the responsibility of looking after a seven-year old boy, who also wished to become a shinobi while Rosile was training to be one as well.

And with all of this frustration she found herself instictually trying to point blame and only came up with one person.

Her father.

He really hadn't planned for this at all?

Did he even care about them?

Sure, he bought them a house in Konoha, fully furnished and a more than decent size, but what about money?

What about food? And what about _them_?

Yet as she pondered on this she realised with a grim feeling rising in her gut that her father was not the only one to blame for all of this.

Her mother, _Their_ mother.

Completely abandoning them for her own selfish reasons with a father who probably had no idea what he was doing without so much as a goodbye.

Rosile had no idea who the woman was but found herself getting increasingly agitated with how much her father used to compare them.

Rosile didn't leave. Wouldnt even _dream_ of leaving Robbie.

God why were these things happening to _her_?!

_Knock Knock._

Rosile's attention was stolen from the hard rapping coming from the front door and looked down to see her fists clenching the side of the table so hard that they were beginning to go numb with how hard she was clutching.

Her knuckles were practically as white as the dinner plates.

As she calmed her breathing down she noticed how worked up she had gotten and was instantly ashamed of herself for overreacting.

Perhaps she just needed a good nights rest or a hot cup of tea to calm herself down to her usual mild outlook on life.

Rising from the table and smoothing out her shirt distractedly, trying in vain to calm herself down, Rosile was quick to answer the door by pulling it open with a haphazard smile tugging at her lips.

When the spiky haired Shikamaru came into view behind it Rosile pondered on actually letting the smile fall and instantly just confessing all of her problems to him one at a time.

Yet she didn't since this was Shikamaru and he wasnt the type of guy to sit there and let a '_girl_' ramble on about her problems.

And since Rosile was too afraid of scaring him off with the insane amount of baggage she carried around with her.

The cool air from outside blew in past her bare arms and she idly heard Robbie continuing to yell in excitement while taking on his imaginary opponents behind her in the living room.

And with the breeze came his scent and the feeling of his blood.

God this was getting annoying.

His face was passive, like always yet instead of his usual ninja attire he wore a dark grey yukata, though he still had his hands in his pockets and stood in the same lazy postured stance that she had grown accustomed too.

It made her feel slightly under-dressed since she only wore a white long-sleeved shirt and grey pants.

"Shikamaru?" she asked, inwardly berating herself for sounding so rude and hoped he didn't take offense.

He merely gave an annoyed sigh and glanced at her with half-open eyes, "This is such a drag, but my Mom asked if you wanted to come over for dinner"

He'd said it like a statement, not actually a question but Rosile had a hard time to null it over anyway.

She was physically and mentally _exhausted_ from training today and she was sure Robbie was already destroying something somewhere in the house now so if she agreed then she would have to somehow get Robbie to calm down which was a recipe for disaster.

And then judging by the way Shikamaru was dressed, in that yukata that made him look very important Rosile had the added tension that she would have to dress up for the occasion.

And also dress Robbie for the occasion as well.

She wasn't even sure if they even _had_ nice clothes like that, before their father died they were pretty average in wealth.

"Well?" Shikamaru pressed, his voice sounding exasperated and she wondered how long she really had been thinking about her answer.

Sometimes her mind just wandered off.

"Um- I- Ah.." Rosile tucked her hair behind her ear again and looked down, stuttering out a few syllables and tried to find the right sentence to say that told him that she didn't really want to go.

She was tired, irritable and she had a hyper Robbie with her, she couldn't imagine the dinner going smoothly.

"Look if you don't say yes now my mom's gonna come over here and probably drag you over herself" he added.

Rosile's gaze returned to his face and she bit her lip in thought.

_Well, if his mother's going to come over and get her anyway.._

Before she had the chance to say yes, a roaring Robbie made himself known by running towards the door, but in his haste his little foot got caught and his hand came out to steady himself, unintentionally throwing a knife directly at Shikamaru.

Rosile barely had time to gasp before it flew past her head and almost as if in slow motion flew towards an unsuspecting Shikamaru's head whose eyes widened and it was obvious he wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time.

So with her heart pounding in her ears, blood burning for some unknown reason, Rosile did the first thing that came to mind and brought her hand up to try to catch the knife.

Which was probably not the brightest thing to do but hey, you can't blame her right?

She didn't register the pain, didn't even register her weight being pulled forward in her haste to catch it and knocked into Shikamaru, but what did register to her, was her blood.

It was as if it was the only thing in the world right now.

And it was terrifying.

Her blood, dark red and running like syrup freely down her hand and staining her shirt seemed to put her in a trance, the knife already dropped and forgotten just like everything else around her.

Rosile thought she may have cut something deep if it was bleeding this heavily.

She didn't notice her left hand bracing on Shikamaru who was laying underneath her or that Robbie was calling her name warily from the doorway.

All she could see was her blood.

And how it felt as if she was drunk.

And the worst of it all, was when Shikamaru's face came into her view and the first thing that registered in her mind was to bite down on his skin until she felt his blood on her tongue.

"Rosile?" he called, waving a hand in front of her face and taking her forearm in his hand gently to get a better look at her cut, but none of that seemed important since his concerned face made her smile goofily.

Rosile barely heard Shikamaru curse before a worried Robbie came over to ask if she was okay, but only two things existed to her in that moment, her blood and Shikamaru's.

"Whats happening?" Robbie demanded in a panic next to her, Rosile only dazedly concerned which should have been a giant red flag to her.

"We've gotta get her to my Mom" Shikamaru stated, barking it to her little brother like an order and Rosile only just having enough presence of mind to nudge him lightly with her non bleeding hand and reprimand him with a small '_hey_'.

He merely responded with a grunt and somehow maneuvered her from him and standing upright, him bracing her weight while she continued to watch her hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world and noted that Shikamaru also told Robbie to lock their door.

And then he proceeded to half drag and half carry her towards his home.

* * *

It wasn't an ideal dinner, Rosile sure wished that it probably would've happened differently but there was no way she could change it now.

The second they had stumbled through the door Shikamaru's mother was on them instantly, wondering why in the world they took so long and had dropped the tea-towel in her hand with a gasp when she saw Rosile's hand.

Quickly ushering them into a nearby bedroom Yoshino was quick to clean the wound and bandage it up, sitting Rosile down on the edge of a bed, gently smiling at Rosile the whole time and seemingly just shrugging off Rosile's zombified stare on her hand as shock.

If only the older woman knew.

Shikamaru was standing in the doorway, arms folded and his back leaning on the arch, watching his mother fix her hand with an intense stare, Rosile wondered why he was so tense.

Robbie of course was feeling incredibly guilty and had done nothing but apologize ever since they'd gotten inside, Rosile trying her best to calm him down with soothing words but while her bloodied hand was still in view she doubted she was doing any good.

With her free hand she took hold of Robbie's wrist to pull him gently towards her, then had him sit next to her so that he had to lean on her before she ran her fingers through his hair.

Remembering that she always used to do this to calm him down and the boy quickly settled, cuddling in and making a guilty face.

Yoshino smiled at the sight and was done with her wound easily, clapping once when she was done and looked her over fondly.

"That was quite an entrance you made young lady," she teased, making Rosile blush lightly and tuck her hair behind her ear, looking down at her feet mutely.

Yoshino seemed to notice Rosile's attire and was quick to get on that as well, noticing the blood on her shirt and pants and blankly said that they 'had to go'.

She shooed Shikamaru and Robbie who protested but was pulled by the back of the collar by Shikamaru who was whispering a 'just don't argue with her' in the white-haired boy's ear, and began to rummage through a closet that Rosile hadn't noticed.

Rosile took deep breaths in order to process what had just happened.

Cut. Check. Shikamaru's fine? Check. Stitched it up? Check. And what was going on again?

Rosile felt drugged but welcomed the distraction from her annoying blood limit which had progressed to the point to where it was an involuntary obsession that she really wanted to just get rid of already.

Yoshino huffed on the other side of the room, stealing Rosile's attention.

"We don't have any young girls clothes, and all of Shikamaru's clothes would be far too big on you wont they?"

The woman was seemingly talking to herself and Rosile felt herself inch away from the woman as she could feel waves of some kind of emotion roll off of her.

Rosile had a feeling Yoshino didn't like it when things didn't go her way.

But then again Rosile didn't blame her, she had kind of just barged into this nice lady's home, bled all over the place with her new friend demanding the woman to fix her hand.

Oh that's right.

Shikamaru had been worried about her.

Perhaps she _had _found a proper friend.

Well, he showed more emotion that Rosile had seen him show in the whole time she'd known him, which decidedly wasn't really that much.. and had even practically carried her over to his house himself.

And Robbie.

Oh poor Robbie.

She really owed him big time for this.

"Aha!"

Rosile flinched at the loud exclamation from the older woman who turned around with a big smile on her face, holding out a simple dark yukata much like the one Shikamaru had on now, only smaller.

"This should fit you fine!"

Yoshino bumbled over happily and set it down next to Rosile, turning to leave and gave a 'come out when you're done' before her hand touched the door handle.

Rosile panicked.

"Wait!"

Rosile's hand quickly reached out for the older woman, bunching up in the back of her pink dress and keeping her from leaving the room.

Yoshino turned around to look at her but Rosile couldn't meet her eyes, feeling ashamed of herself and quickly reeled back her hand.

_Girls don't snatch things Rosile.._

"What is it sweetie?" Yoshino soothed. Yet Rosile couldn't speak yet.

_Girls don't yell Rosile.._

"I-I just.."

_Only girls get to wear dresses Rosile.._

"I d-don't.."

_You're not good enough to wear one.._

Gathering up enough breath, Rosile finally looked up, making sure her eyes weren't teared up or that she was showing any expression other than her usual shy one.

"I don't know how.. to put it on.."

Oh god she said it out loud. What now?

Would Yoshino laugh at her? Would she tease her about not knowing something so simple as to put on a yukata?

Would she be like her step-mother?

Were all mothers like that?

"Well why didn't you just say so Sweetie?" Yoshino breathed, as if it were no deal and that Rosile was just being silly and dramatic.

But her reaction was dramatic to Rosile.

Yoshino didn't mind.

Didnt mind that she was incompetent and that she yelled or that she grabbed the back of her dress.

Didnt mind helping Rosile dress and even brushed her hair a little as well, gushing something on the lines of 'I wish i had a daughter, sometimes I even brush Shikamaru's hair..'

And Rosile found herself staring at Yoshino in a light that would never be put out.

Yoshino was lovely. And even if she talked an awful lot, Rosile wanted to be around her all the time.

* * *

"This is my dad, Shikaku."

It was scary.

And it seemed unnatural.

There, standing no more than five feet away from her, was Shikamaru.

Only twenty years older, with a beard and a scar.

Oh lord help her.

And it only got worse when he introduced himself as "Shikaku Nara" with a scratchy and deeper voice.

Rosile was glad she couldn't smell his scent with her blood loss, because if it was anything like Shikamaru's Rosile feared she may faint.

His hand was calloused and rough, just like the man himself and Rosile found herself a little intimidated but more or less intrigued by the older Nara, she wondered how much like Shikamaru he was.

Maybe Shikamaru got his sexism from his father.

"Rosile.. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Nara" she said softly, doing her best to keep her voice inside volume but she was so spooked that it was barely more than a whisper.

"You can call me Shikaku, I'll make an exception since you are the first girl other than Ino Shikamaru's ever brought home"

His sentence was accompanied by the older man sending Shikamaru a look that Rosile didn't understand nor want to, judging by Shikamaru's face it was probably some weird boy thing.

Rosile spluttered in surprise, not really knowing if she should take his words or not, perhaps he was testing her to see if she'd call him by his first name.

That wasnt exactly respectful and Rosile didn't have anyone to look at for advice.

Rosile brushed her hair behind her ear and looked down to hide her confusion, stuttering out a "Oh.. al-alright MrShikaku."

Rosile knew that probably wasnt what he wanted but she didn't get to hear a reply since Robbie was on her faster than the older man could speak, his white hair buzzing around the table and Robbie attached himself to her leg with a small grunt on impact.

"Rosie does it hurt?" he asked, tears beginning to glaze up his eyes and Rosile felt her heart go out to him, running her fingers through his hair to soothe him and pulling him closer.

"No Robbie, it doesn't, you were so brave" Rosile cooed, feeling a little embarrassed and guilty for ignoring the Nara family but they seemed to be fine with her brothers outburst.

The young boys head raised with hesitant questioning, his eyes shining bright "Really?"

"Yes" Rosile smiled, ruffling his hair and felt her heart sing when he smiled back, hugging her again.

The moment was lost when a weird high-pitched sound rung out in the room and everyone's eyes flew to Yoshino who looked as if she was swooning.

Her hands clasped together in front of her and Rosile swore she could see little stars in the womans eyes.

"You guys are so cute! But no matter, its dinner time!" she announced and had them all take a seat around their table, Robbie stealing Shikamaru's seat next to Rosile and Shikamaru was forced to move next to his mother and Robbie.

Although it didn't look as if it bothered him, but then again nothing really ever did bother the lazy boy.

Yoshino cheerfully named everything on the table and told them to dig in, Robbie immediately took the cue, piling on things Rosile wasnt sure he knew about.

Everyone else was a little slower.

"So Rosile. I've heard that you have a seal on your body" Shikaku noted, his tone polite but Rosile almost choked on her food.

Ever since her cut she hadn't been able to notice it much, and she honestly was extremely grateful for it since it felt like she was normal for the first time in a long time.

She had begun thinking of an appropriate answer yet she was interrupted by Shikamaru.

"Dad." Shikamaru's tone was so firm that Rosile had to gasp in shock. She'd never heard him so serious in her life, and to be speaking that way to his _father_.

Was that even allowed in this house? It certainly would not be in her house.

Oh that's right, she couldn't do that anymore.

Shikaku had dropped it and smiled a meek smile that made her want to laugh, it seemed as if he were teasing his son.

Shikamaru gave a sigh and continued eating, like he thought they were all idiots and he was the only sane one at the table.

Yoshino doted on Robbie, Shikaku.. thought and Rosile merely just enjoyed it.

For the first time in a long time she didn't feel alone, and she didn't want anything to happen to them.

* * *

The walk home was quiet.

Robbie was fast asleep on Rosile's back and Shikamaru had been ordered by his mom to walk her home and the Lazy boy accepted hesitantly, even opening their front door for her and rolling his eyes when his mother squealed in delight.

But his actions raised a question in Rosile that she felt she needed to ask him, "Shikamaru?" She asked tentatively, and quietly since Robbie was still asleep. She was answered with a low grunt and she smiled gently before asking "why do you.. care so much?"

Shikamaru's expression froze and Rosile stopped walking to check his face to see what was wrong, the boy fake coughed and turned his head to the side, the dark sky making it impossible to see his face.

And she wasnt sure he would answer her yet, in a small voice he spoke "Because you're-" ...

Rosile waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She wasnt sure what the boy would say but something inside of her told her it would be important so she didn't interrupt him.

His dark eyes looked at her and Rosile felt a gaze of something completely different inside of them stare right into her soul.

BUt he seemed to notice what he was doing and coughed again, spurting a "ahem, my responsibility.." he explained with a large 'smile' and scratched the back of his head, pausing a moment and then blurting "and I don't care that much!" with a pout on his face.

Rosile smiled bright, closing her eyes and not noticing the look on Shikamaru's face when she did and continued walking,Shikamaru following at a laggy pace behind her.

When they did reach the door Shikamaru helped her open it and Rosile turned to him with a grateful look, "Thank youShikamaru.. Sweet dreams.." she said, reaching up on the tips of her toes to press her lips lightly against his cheek in a sign of affection.

Noticing the boy turn bright red Rosile backed off and smiled, hearing him mumbled before walking off with his head turned away and his hands in his pockets.

But as he left Rosile only had one thing on her mind.

Just what kind of friend was Shikamaru?

* * *

Preview:

"What is the Chunnin Exams?"

And

"Rosile, it's about time we talk about that seal of yours"

* * *

**So I was late but this story is _a lot_ harder to write than my other one, please review ! :) I love it  
**

**I wont talk too much but if you have any questions just ask and I'll answer them in the next chapter :)**

**Take Care,**

**-PrincessJade**


	10. Chapter 10- Dream's and Clans?

Chapter 10

* * *

**I am SO SO SO sorry it's been so long, my laptop was destroyed and I had to go get it fixed, which meant I had to write this chapter all over again, which also means it may be a little rough around the edges. But it is longer so theres that :)**

**A big thank you to the reviewers! And the favs and followers of course.**

**InARealPickle- You have no idea what that review did for me :) I felt so good for the rest of the day!**

**httydismylife- I cant wait for that point either! It was so fun to write. Im so happy you liked it :)**

**shirohara- I'm glad you enjoyed :) I know right, blushing Shiakamaru :)**

* * *

**The familiar dream shaped behind closed eyes and the smell of blood filled her lungs.**

**Rosile was aware that she was dreaming, but at the same time had a hard time to keep herself believing it.**

**Everything felt so _real_.**

**Her fingertips brushing again her old wallpaper, her bare feet walking on warm liquid beneath her and the eerie feeling that someone was watching her.**

**Her eyes wouldn't adjust but she could make out a few meters in front of her, the hallway of her old home in Kirigakurewas dark and she was horrified to find that everything was painted red.**

**Like blood.**

**It was splattered over the cream walls like someone had been thrown against it multiple times until they'd exploded, dark red puddles all over the wooden floor and was drying at the sides into a nasty brown color, and of course, her bare feet were covered in it.**

**Her eyes itched but she didn't dare rub them, knowing the paint on the walls was all over them while she stumbled down the hallway.**

**Everything was so familiar, like this had happened before.**

**Her back seemed as if it was on fire, right where her seal was and she tried to reach back and touch it, her fingers barely brushing it before white-hot pain seared down her spine and she jerked her had away quickly.**

**Her fingers were coated in blood.**

**There was something building in her throat, Rosile had a feeling that it might be blood judging by how it seemed to be _everywhere_ and tried her best to swallow it down, continuing her walk down the hall towards the kitchen.**

**The light was off, all light was off, partly the reason she couldn't see but she could definitely _hear_.**

**In the room ahead someone was choking, someone was _definitely_ choking.**

**Muffled sounds of mumbled words accompanying it and they sounded dark, like a forbidden jutsu.**

**Rosile didn't want to see, she wanted to wake up, she wanted to go home, she wanted her father, she wanted to-**

**Wait.**

**Her father.**

**Rosile's feet took off faster than ever before with legs that felt like they'd been weighed down with concrete, it hurt to run but she _had_ to get there _now_, the sudden recognition of the voice had her heart racing fearfully and her heart in her throat.**

**Her father was choking.**

**And someone was doing a Jutsu.**

**There was blood everywhere.**

**The door to the kitchen was open barely an inch and Rosile collided with it, using her weight to knock the door clean off of its hinges and hit the ground hard, her head knocking on the ground rather painfully and her vision became even more fuzzy.**

**Still her eyes searched through the black dots, passing more blood stained furniture, a broken vase and a whole lot more blood staining the floor.**

**Rosile painfully pushed off of the ground, turning her head to look again and finding her father, fighting for air on the dinner table with her step-mother standing over him with a blank, almost aloof expression.**

**But that wasn't the most terrifying part, the woman's inky black hair was falling around her face messily like she was a savage but her eyes, her eyes had turned completely black.**

**Rosile's father still coughed in a way that sounded agonizing but Rosile was frozen in her spot, unable to take her eyes off of the woman who claimed to love her father.**

**She was wearing all black with her necklace clearly showcases in the middle of her sternum, a little vial that had red liquid encased in it, only it seemed to be glowing.**

**Rosile's mind couldn't comprehend what was going on, she couldn't understand, didn't want to, couldn't think what to do until her attention was taken by her father, mumbling the woman's name.**

**The woman merely smiled, her teeth seeming to fill Rosile's vision with how sharp they looked, not taking her eyes off of Rosile.**

**And then her sickly sweet voice filled the air, the sound of everything innocent and pure in the world, like her stepmother didn't look like the embodiment of death right now.**

**With the poor lighting and her pounding head, Rosile could barely make it out, but it seemed as if where the woman's irises were turned red.**

**"Be a good girl Rosile and hand me the knife"**

* * *

Rosile woke with a start, her breath coming out in spasmic irregular rhythm and her hand clenched over her shirt where her heart would be, able to feel her blood coursing quicker along with it.

She was sure her pupils were blown up wide and her ears were ringing from the dream.

Dream. It didn't feel like a dream. Not at all.

Something had happened that she couldn't remember, and it all had something to do with her stepmother.

Rosile closed her eyes, letting herself fall back onto the soft expanse of mattress beneath her and took deep breaths to slow her heart down again, it felt as if it was beating in her ears with how hard it was pounding.

Her brain was starting to accept the blood sensing thing as second nature now and had even began doing 'exercises', as she liked to call them, every now and again to try to get a better feel for it.

These exercises consisted of her seeking her brother for his blood.

Well, the _scent_ of his blood, the specific smell of rain came from in the lounge, the boy was jumping up and down from what she could sense and his blood was heating up quite rapidly.

Rosile smiled to herself, finding his restlessness a good outlet to take her mind off of things.

Right now she could feel everything weighting down on her, training, her seal, looking after Robbie, trying to find her chakra and all she wanted to do was just out everything on hold and just lay somewhere quiet.

Not to think, just to rest.

But as her eyes fell on the small clock on her bedside table it seemed that that couldn't be, Shikamaru would be here soon to walk them.

Rosile swung her legs out of bed and stood on shaky legs, finding herself more than a little exhausted from her dream and all this stress.

Frankly all she wanted right now was a distraction and even thought she didn't want to admit it to herself, the specific distraction she wanted was a certain pony-tailed boy with a scratchy voice and a spicy scent.

* * *

She didn't understand.

This morning when Shikamaru had arrived to walk with her and Robbie she'd acted the way she usually did, doing her best to seem aloof as not to make him suspicious of the dark circles under her eyes.

Her nightmare had spooked her more than she'd like to say and didn't want to freak him out by telling him about her step-mother asking her to kill her father.

Rosile suspected that it wasnt exactly something you went shouting from the rooftops.

Rosile had been prepared enough to leave when Shikamaru knocked on he door and even Robbie had greeted the boy with a good morning which, on an average day would mean that it was a start to great day.

The sun was shining bright and it seemed tat everyone was in good spirits.

But when Robbie ran to catch up with Konohamaru and she was left alone to walk with Shikamaru something odd happened.

Well _was_ happening.

Rosile felt the undeniable urge to.. bite him.

Her teeth seemed to ache by the mere thought of it and it was slightly disturbing.

What in the world would make her crave blood?

Was it something to do with her seal? Or her mother perhaps?

She didn't know, probably didn't want to, but of course that didn't matter right now because the only thing she could focus on was how GOOd he smelled right now.

Rosile shook her head to try to clear the thought surfacing, what was the matter with her?

Here he was walking her to training with Asuma-sensei when he clearly didn't have to since she knew her way there now and she wanted to bite him?

The bite would _hurt_ him, she didn't want to hurt him, but lord _above_ it was so distracting.

Rosile turned her head towards him slightly, enough to catch a glimpse of his left side, he was looking down while his hands were set firmly in his pockets, his back arched in a slouch and he seemed to be thinking hard on something.

Her eyes smoothed over the bridge of his nose to the small furrow in between his eyebrows, noting the tension in his shoulders.

And of course, raking her gaze down his neck to the thin skin and the blood running through his-

"Rosile?"

Rosile's head snapped up at the sound of his voice, catching eyes with him and felt her cheeks heating up when she realised she'd been caught and quickly turned away.

In her little daydream she'd subconsciously walked towards him until she could practically lick his skin should she take another step.

In a poor attempt to save herself from humiliation, since the way he was looking at her made her feel as if she was a complete idiot for not noticing sooner, Rosile gently brushed his shoulder with her fingers, mumbling that there was something on his shirt.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her but didn't question her, to which she was glad but it didn't do much to make her feel better.

This was getting out of hand, there was no way she was going to be able to train if this was anything to go by.

Rosile didn't have that much experience with people her age, ever since she was young she had stayed at home and helping her father with the restaurant, going out to stores to get groceries and cleaning up Robbie.

Friends werent a 'thing' for her and she wasnt sure what this meant.

A few minutes past and Rosile could feel the urge to look fill her again, starting from her toes and working up to her eyes, her lungs begging her to look at him again since his scent was so goddamn alluring.

But luck seemed to have her side since they made it to the training grounds before he caught her again.

Rosile subtly made her way over to Asuma, in a way that didn't look as if she was doing her best to get as far away fromShikamaru as possible even though she was.

But that didn't stop her eyes from watching him go over to Choji and start up a conversation with the red-haired boy.

Ino was nowhere to be found which for some reason made Rosile worry, the blond girl seemed to make the training thing a bit more interesting with her quirks and snappy remarks.

Asuma, as usual, stood with a hand on his hip and the other holding a cigarette to his lips, watching the two boys as he took in a drag of the cancer stick, blowing it out in a slow motion.

Rosile continued towards him with purposeful steps, wondering what was up with the intense look in his eyes.

He held that look often.

"Sensei?" she asked tentatively, waving a hand at him to try to get him out of his daydream without startling him, hedid a moment later, turning his head to look at her and straightening his posture back up.

"Rosile, good you're here, we need to have a talk"

A talk? oh great.

She didn't really want to talk right now, she didn't even want to ogle Shikamaru for the rest of the training session.

Rosile wanted to actually train so that she wouldn't be useless if Robbie was ever in trouble.

But it seemed Asuma didn't have that in mind.

"I think it's time that we talk about this seal of yours"

Oh.. He had her full attention now.

* * *

"The Shukketsu Clan?" Rosile repeated, wanting to make sure she pronounced the words right, especially if she hailed from the clan.

Asuma hummed in response, pointing back at the scroll he'd layed on the ground in front of her, indicating to a seal drawn delicately on the paper, one identical to her own seal.

Asuma had sent for the other three to do some simple teamwork training thing which left both Rosile and Asuma alone for the time being, enough for him to explain a few things to her.

The Shukketsu clan were an obscure clan, thought to be wiped out years ago and were known for their magical blood techniques and jutsu's.

Supposedly a myth, but the Rosile's seal attested to that, something Asuma seemed uneasy about.

"They were known for their curiosity, the women of the clan known for their long hair, and their red eyes"

Depictions of the women were shown on some of the scrolls, the women were dressed fully in dark clothes, with paint smudged over their eyes and cheeks which only made them more menacing.

There wasn't much to go on, only that they had blood jutsu's and they were rarely come across.

"So.." Rosile started, turning her head away from the scrolls and looking at Asuma, "If i am from this clan, what happens then?"

A deep frown set in between his eyebrows, a grim look setting over his face and Rosile felt a bad feeling well up in her stomach.

WHAT if it means I'll be separated from Robbie?

"That depends" He grumbled, turning away for a moment to find another cigarette and place it between his lips, reaching into his pocket to find his Zippo and lit it up, sucking in the smoke slowly.

Rosile looked back to the scroll, the seal seeming more real now than it ever had before since it belonged to an actual clan.

A clan that specialized in _blood_ techniques nonetheless.

"Depends on what?"

With how Asuma hesitated, Rosile debated on whether or not she wanted to know the answer.

He sighed, giving her a look that made her feel very young and vulnerable.

"Depends on if the clan is dangerous or not"

Dangerous.

Was she dangerous?

Flashes of the night her hand was cut came flashing back and she remembered how badly she wanted to bite Shikamaru in that moment.

Bite him hard enough to taste blood on her tongue.

It was a terrifying thought.

She didn't want to be dangerous or put any of her friends in danger but when it came down to it she couldn't exactly be sure of it.

Rosile could potentially be dangerous and if she was she had no idea what the Hokage would do with her, she'd only met him twice and though he seemed like a nice man if it really became serious he would choose the village over her.

And that would mean she would have to leave.

Leaving her and Robbie exposed to **her**.

But in order to protect herself and Robbie she would need to learn how to fight, but if she did then that would mean she could be dangerous.

Oh lord Rosile couldn't think properly.

Frustration was clawing at her mind and Rosile lost touch of her senses for a moment, sensing Asuma's blood next to her strongly and even across the field to where Ino, Choji and Shikamaru were.

She could sense the birds around her and the grasshoppers jumping and every single insect that was around her crawling.

Rosile couldn't breathe, she was loosing control of it and she didn't want to, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth in concentration.

Blocking out each scent carefully, one at a time, cooling the blood that was circulating faster around her body, keeping it away from her seal.

She tucked her hair behind her ear while trying to catch her breath, noticing that she was sweating from the effort and feeling the panic about to set in again.

It was getting harder and harder to control.

But after what Asuma just told her she didn't want to tell him, just in case this ranked as 'dangerous'.

Looking over at him he seemed to be lost in thought again, turned away from her and smoking his cigarette calmly.

And then she remembered, today was the day she was supposed to get the seal off wasn't it?

The question was, would it be better if it was off? Who knew what would happen should they remove it.

Before she could say anything else, Ino yelled out from across the field, exclaiming along with Choji that it was, in fact, lunch time, the end of training time today.

Asuma seemed to come out of his daydream and take notice of them, waving them over.

He turned to her, a closed eye smile sent her way which made her feel a bit more at ease after the little episode she just had.

"Try not to worry Rosile, just go get lunch with these three right now, I'll find you after"

Rosile agreed reluctantly, picking up the scrolls and packing them up neatly before handing them to Asuma, a notion that she saw Shikamaru notice.

She gave a lighthearted shrug and raced to catch up with them, all heading towards town where Choji was leading them to a very good meat place, or so he told them.

Rosile just focused on keeping her attention on her friends, not wanting to think about loosing them so quickly after she'd found them.

* * *

"Rosie! Rosie! Look at me!"

"Robbie get _down _from there!"

Rosile had her hands firmly on her mouth in shock as she watched her younger brother hang very dangerously off of one of the Hokage's faces.

The academy had ended sooner today like her training and Robbie had taken to hanging out with his friend and getting into trouble.

The young boy had gotten it in his head that it would be _brave _to climb up and hang off of the tip of who she assumed was the Second Hokage's nose and yell her name out with a big toothy grin adorning his face.

Robbie had apparently been doing things like this all day, along with his sidekick Konohamaru and Konohamaru's friends, playing pranks on people, getting into dangerous situations, all because of **_Naruto_**.

Rosile had no idea who the boy was but she was not pleased with whoever it was.

Konohamaru seemed obsessed with the boy and his admiration had somehow passed on to Robbie and the boys would disappear every now and again to go 'find Naruto'.

She'd asked Shikamaru about the boy when they had been training but judging by the groan that he gave her, she realized that Shikamaru was probably not the best person to ask.

But then again she really didn't have anyone else to ask.

This was Rosile's third day with team 10, the day that she was meant to go see Hokage and since her first day the team had considerably warmed up to her, and by the team, she meant Choji.

She realized when she was doing chakra exercises with Asuma that by the way the red-haired boy talked to Shikamaru, that they were most likely very good friends, and along with her arrival their relationship must be getting strained with how Shikamaru seemed to always have to be around her.

This bugged Rosile a lot since on one hand she wanted to give the two boys enough space to be boys and still be good friends, but on another note Rosile really didn't know anyone here in the village.

And though she wouldn't say it out loud, Ino was really bossy and Rosile didn't exactly want to be left alone with the blonde girl.

Although lovely, Ino seemed to have _too _much energy solely used just to gossip.

Half the time Rosile had no clue what the girl was talking about but nodded nonetheless just to appease the girl.

But all of that didn't matter right now since Rosile was currently trying to catch her little brother who had since gotten off of one of the giant head of the second Hokage and was now running off with Konohamaru to go see 'Naruto', and honestly?

Rosile had no idea what she was going to do with her brother once she found him, she was only intent on catching him right now and that was all that mattered.

As it turned out, Robbie was a _lot _faster than Rosile, the young boy using his boundless energy and long legs to sprint.

Rosile was just, short.

And after she finally caught up to the boy, watching him stop with Konohamaru at the back of a boy with an orange jumpsuit on, his back facing her and his blond hair looking wild from the back.

He was talking to three other people, a taller man with gray hair with a mask that covered almost the entirety of his face.

The man also wore a vest similar to Asuma-sensei, suggesting that he was also a Jounin, but he looked extremely shady when he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look the way he was now.

A pink haired girl and a raven haired boy were also looking at the man, and it looked as if they were all trying to intimidate the older man.

Which would be extremely weird if he was, in fact, a Jounin.

A Jounin getting scared by a few kids? Unheard of.

Both the small boys were doing an awful job of being spies and hiding in the middle of the street to watch the jumpsuit boy.

Annoying Rosile a little.

If this was what Robbie thought was hiding then who knows what would happen in a serious scenario.

It seemed her team had caught up behind her, all of them agreeing to help her catch Robbie, albeit hesitantly after she pleaded, and they panted wildly behind her, Ino catching her breath first and giving her an irked look, pointing a finger towards Rosile.

"Hey, next time you want me to catch your brother, don't make-"

The blond stopped midway when she saw who Robbie and Konohamaru had stopped behind.

Or rather, when she caught sight of the dark-haired boy beside him.

Rosile dismissed it when she noticed Robbie and Konohamaru run off again, too fast for her to be able to catch them again.

She groaned and slouched, making a pained face.

She would give up for now, maybe if she let him be for a while he would come home tired and not try to destroy the house again.

"Hey! Who are you?"

Rosile turned her head to the side, in order for her to see who addressed her.

It was the blond-haired boy, the one Robbie and Konohamaru had caught up to and did a bad job of being sneaky.

He had bright blue eyes that shone brighter than the hot sun, fair skin and were they.. whiskers?

Was that normal?

"Ah, that's Rosile Snow, a new addition to the leaf"

While she had been transfixed with the blond boy's whiskers, the Jounin had answered for her, sending her a closed eye look that she guessed was a smile.

It weirded her out, him answering for her, making her take a small step back towards Shikamaru and tuck her hair behind her ear shyly.

"H-How did you-"

Naruto seemed to realize something, a light-bulb going off in his head and loudly interrupting her with a "Hey! You're Robbie's sister!"

"Naruto! Don't be so rude to the new girl!"

The pink haired girl, suddenly turning into a scary gremlin, punched the boy so hard he fell forward, him making a pained noise and cradling the back of his head where he'd been hit.

Rosile stared wide-eyed at the scene.

Who the hell were these guys?

The grey haired man sighed, giving her an apologetic look, one that made her wonder if this sort of thing happened all the time with the way no one, not even her own team, reacted.

"Ow! Sakura! I didn't mean it!"

Oh his teary eyes, they made her want to cry herself.

The boy she now realized was **the **Naruto, the boy her brother and Konohamaru were obsessed over, seemed so heartbroken with the way the pink hai- SAKUra, had hit him.

It made Rosile want to forget about his little disrespectful remark and hug him tightly until he smiled again.

His scent was earthy, like a wild animal, and with those whiskers it kind of made sense.

The girl Sakura, smelled of flowers, much like Ino's own scent.

And the Jounin smelled of a rainforest.

But when she turned her head towards the raven haired boy, her heart literally stopped for a moment.

* * *

Rosile froze. _Really _really froze.

Her blood seemed to stop as well and all noise ceased while her eyes blurred everything in her peripheral vision and he was the only thing visible to her.

Well, his _eyes _were the only thing visible.

They were dark, dark like charcoal and deeper than the ocean, with thick eyelashes framing them to give them that extra little 'pop'.

And _oh_, his blood.

It smelled like power, pure masculine power that threatened to overpower her with every breath she took in.

Needing an anchor she reached out to take Shikamaru's wrist in her hand, stepping closer to him and doing her best to breathe in his comforting scent to calm her sudden nerves.

What the hell was wrong with her?

Shikamaru sent her a look with an underlying question, waiting for her to give him an explanation to why she was freaking out.

Rosile didn't give one, keeping her eyes firmly on this stranger, inching herself in front of Shikamaru subtly on instinct.

Cold coal eyes narrowed at her actions, setting all of his attention on her and if it were even possible, making her feel even more unsettled with his undivided attention.

She didn't know what was up with him, but she had the urge to run away from him, get as far as she possibly could and then some.

But at the same time, a small scary part of her longed to be close to him.

"Tch, who cares, I'm going to go train"

Oh.

So he was equally as rude as he was handsome.

"Oh, I'll come too Sasuke!"

"Oh, I'll come too Sasuke!"

Ino and Sakura instantly turned on each other, sending scalding looks that no one seemed to care about either.

Apart from Shikamaru's exhausted sigh and him pulling on her arm to keep her from getting between them, whispering for her to "let them work it out"

Rosile obeyed, turning her attention to Sasuke again who was walking away, not waiting for either of the girls as he stalked down the street with his hands in his pockets, sending a cold look towards her briefly.

She wondered if he sensed it too, the weird connection.

Perhaps he used blood techniques too.

Either way, he was already too far to question, and she wasn't sure if she should go over to him.

Not sure, but trying to suppress the urge to do so.

The grey haired Jounin decided that the girls had fought enough, setting a hand on Saukra shoulder and scolding her with a patronizing tone and mentioning that it was lunchtime so that's what they should do.

They complied, still sending each other looks but walking back towards their respective teams.

Naruto gave a look towards the Jounin, "Hey wait. I want to talk to the new girl Kakashi-sensei"

That was a surprise to Rosile.

So far, her friends were only her friends because of her being forced onto team 10.

No one had ever expressed an interest in conversing with her before.

Should she try to make friends with this boy?

He seemed nice enough, his female teammate was another story, but that wasn't a reason to reject him.

"I think we should let her get settled into the village first, Naruto"

Well at least the Jounin was polite.

Naruto gave a little bummed out sigh but complied with his Sensei nevertheless, giving her a smile and a wave as they turned towards town, giving her a look at his pointy teeth.

"See you around Rosile-chan"

She waved back shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear and not looking him in the eyes.

So that was the team Robbie gushed about daily.

Team 7.

"Hey Rosile" Shikamaru drawled, bringing her back to reality and finding him, Choji and Ino all heading towards the restaurant again, "You coming?"

Rosile looked back where the team had just been, or more specifically, in the direction the raven haired boy was headed.

"Um, you guys go ahead" she replied politely, turning back around to give them all a smile, trying to get rid of that look Shikamaru was giving her, "I just want to check something"

* * *

Preview:

"So you want to tell me whats going on yet?"

"_Shikamaru_!"

and,

Chunnin exams come closer.

* * *

**Yes i know i said the Chunnin exams would be mentioned in this chapter but i had to cut it short otherwise it would be too much information for one chapter.**

**I didn't want it to be too much.**

**Anyways be sure to review! I love them so much.**

**I'm sure i'm forgetting something but i'll leave it here.**

**As always Take Care,**

**PrincessJade.**


	11. Chapter 11- Stressed Out

**So its been a while.. yeah, there's been some stuff.**

**Its taken me a long time to get this to you and I dont know how you'll like it but I'm working hard to start getting back into writing routine again.**

**Anywho I hope you're still there and hope everything is well with you guys :)**

**To httydismylife- who knows? ;)**

**Sweet Petit- I'm glad you think so! I try my best, who doesn't like fluff? :)**

**shirohara- No more on the dream this time sorry :/ but i am actually back now :) Working on the next.**

**guest- Thanks so much :) **

* * *

Rosile felt like a stalker.

Like a complete creeper and she was praying to every god above that no one would catch her doing this.

She didn't want to be known as that new girl Rosile with dark red hair who watched Sasuke train.

And boy, the mere word 'training' was an understatement.

When she watched her team train it was mostly pointers on teamwork and how their jutsu's could roll into one another, but this boy..

He was hellbent on _destroying _things.

Rosile had never seen jutsu be performed before so watching this was like seeing the sun for the first time.

Fire, burning hot flames bursting from his mouth in intricate patterns she'd never even imagined.

His eyes cool and concentrated.

His blood.. Boiling.

Rosile knew the feeling, knew it like the back of her hand.

Hatred.

Hatred so powerful it threatened to overcome your body.

If he had the same blood ability she had, he might've passed out like she had the first day she'd met Shikamaru.

But then, this was no ordinary boy was it.

Oh lord she sounded like a love-sick idiot.

She didn't mean it in a fangirling way.

Rosile thought it like a fact, they were the same, Sasuke and her, the same hatred, only Sasuke wasn't interested in anything other than using his hatred as fuel, training harder as a result.

Rosile worked to harness the hate, using it as motivation to protect her and Robbie, not murder _her_.

But that didnt change the fact that his blood was extremely alluring, like a sirens call and she wanted to know why.

But she had a sinking suspicion that he wasn't going to talk to her.

This Sasuke, seemed isolated from everyone else, making a circle around him that he didn't allow anyone to enter, so chances of her getting close to him was slim.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try.

Although she would wait until it seemed he was done with training, since she didn't want to accidentally get hit by one of those fireballs.

Or on purpose if she offended him enough.

All she had to do was-

"What are you doing?"

Rosile jumped out of her skin, clasping her hands over her mouth to keep from shrieking and whirling towards the voice behind her.

Asuma stood with his arms crossed towards her, cigarette hanging from his lips and narrow eyes facing her way, with good reason.

Rosile had only met this boy a few hours ago and now she was following him around like a lost puppy, hiding behind tree's.

Rosile didn't want to admit that it was because of his scent, least that add to the dangerous things she had probably committed since coming to the village.

Stalking probably wasn't encouraged here either.

"Uh.." Oh heavens, she didn't have a good answer for him, not one that wouldn't sound very suspicious or insane.

She couldn't have possibly said something on the line's of, "he smells weird", she couldn't imagine that going down very well.

Rosile couldn't imagine anything she said would go down well.

It probably wasn't very smart, and she knew in her heart that lying was completely wrong to do, but the pressure of everything bubbling up had the words spilling right out from her mouth without her permission.

"H-he's just really handsome"

Rosile didn't look him in the eyes, looking down and tucking her hair behind her ear nervously, chewing on her bottom lip in suspense.

It wasn't very believable, and to her own ears it sounded like a lie.

She'd just grasped onto the only thing that'd made sense at the time, since Ino had seemed to be ogling him, along with the pink haired Sakura, Rosile had assumed that this boy had his own little fangirl group that were all warring for his attention.

Not that it was her type of thing, it would be understandable for her to instantly fall for him like any other girl her age.

Even though the thought of falling in love with a total stranger freaked her out.

What if he was working with _her_?

Rosile shook herself inwardly, berating her brain for coming up with something as ludicrous as that.

This boy had no idea and no care in the world for her own problems and most likely only had time to train, not help her evil stepmother come to get her.

Asuma gave her a long look without words, giving it enough time to sweat over it but she did her best to keep her face straight.

He gave a sigh, but seemed to believe her, raising an eyebrow her way but other than that giving her no more judgement.

"I didn't peg you for one of those girls"

That was another understatement.

If it were anyone, it wouldn't be this Sasuke boy.

When it came to things like crushes and boys she didn't think that Sauske was her 'type' with all of his brooding and blunt answers.

But that was a conversation she didn't want to get into, she couldn't start having stupid little girl crushes, she had more important things to think about.

"-But I'm not here to pester you, I came here to with word from the Hokage"

Rosile snapped her head up, looking Asuma-sensei straight in the eyes that time and listened intently.

Hokage? Was she in trouble?

Oh god, she needed to pay for something and she hadn't.

Or maybe they'd found out more about the Shukketsu clan and found out some horrifyin-

"Have you ever heard of the Chunnin Exams?"

Chunnin Exams?

Rosile had heard about them here and there, rumors about young Shinobi being pit against one another, but that was about it.

apparently, a lot of people went to watch, and this year it was supposed to be held in the leaf.

She'd never paid much mind to it, rather opting to do the sensible thing that her father most likely would've preferred and just worried endlessly about Robbie.

.. Then again.

When she actually thought about it.

Perhaps her father wouldn't have wanted that but it was the sensible thing to do.

Oh her head was starting to hurt.

"Well," Asuma began, leaning against a nearby tree, "In a short answer, the Chunnin Exams are a chance for the Gennin to become Chunnin, should they pass"

Oh.

That seemed simple enough.

Well, it was always easier said then done, and Rosile had never attended an exam in her life, especially a Shinobi one.

"And I've entered my team into the exams, and since you are an additional part of the team, you have been entered as well"

Rosile nodded, mulling the idea through her head again, he had said that they were entering as a team and that lessened her fears a little, she wouldn't worry so much if she had Shikamaru with her and if Ino was entering then it probably wouldn't be extremely difficult.

Rosile felt like slapping herself, that had been very rude.

Asuma reached behind him and pulled out a sheet of paper, "here's the admission form, you just need to get it to me before the exam starts"

Rosile took the paper and scanned the sheet, finding an empty space for her name at the bottom, her heart sinking a little when she noticed a space for parents to sign.

Asuma seemed to notice as he cleared his throat, getting her attention again, "There are a few more things we should probably go over but I'll leave it for tomorrow, it's probably best if we talked about it at a more appropriate place"

That made Rosile's eyebrows raise, what did he mean by-

Her ears perked up at the noise, or rather, lack of noise.

Before Asuma had shown up the forest had been loud and disturbed by Sasuke's traini-

Turning around Rosile came face to face with none other than the raven boy himself, who looked less than pleased with their arrival.

Coal eyes stared at her from a few feet away and his arms were crossed over his chest, a kunai between his fingers and some rubble on his clothes.

Rosile shivered.

How the hell hadn't she noticed him?

"Well then-" Asuma exclaimed suddenly with an enthusiasm he hadn't shown before, "I best be going now"

Rosile's eyes widened and she whirled again to find the tall man waving as he made his way out off the training ground, a closed eye smile gracing his face.

She didn't even have time to protest before he was too far gone, his long strides going fast and she was left alone with the boy.

Awkward didn't even begin to describe how the atmosphere felt.

Rosile blushed under his intense gaze and tucked her hair behind her ear, looking down at her feet and the paper in her hands, hoping to any lord above that he hadn't heard her say he was handsome.

"Uh.."

All her words escaped her and she couldn't find any that wouldn't make her sound crazy.

She didn't want to be in this situation anymore, she hadn't even thought off what she was going to say before she'd come here and now that she was she felt like a total dork.

Maybe if she-

"You're not very bright, are you?"

Rosile blinked. And blinked again.

Taking an abnormal amount of time to process what he just said.

"Pardon?" She asked incredulously, and for the first time since he confronted her she looked him in the eyes.

"Are you deaf as well?"

Rosile gave a small frown at his comments, was this guy always this rude? Why the hell did Ino think the sun shone out of his-

"Well if you're not going to say anything interesting could you leave? I'm training"

And with that he spun on his toes gracefully, not even sending her a second glance as he headed back towards the haphazard targets he'd made.

Rosile felt a burning sensation on the back of her neck, her hand reaching back to touch it by instinct and felt a small jolt go through her body.

Sasuke suddenly stopped.

Keen eyes turned to pin her with his gaze again, a suspicious look replacing his aloof look he'd donned a few moments before.

"What was that?"

Rosile did her best to keep her face trained into innocence to hide her small panic.

How had he sensed that?

When it had burned while walking with Shikamaru he didn't sense it, so how did he?

It seemed the longer she stayed quiet the longer Sasuke became more curious, or annoyed with her lack of obedience and took a few steps towards her again, eyes narrowed in determination.

Rosile felt her body jolt again and backed up, keeping wide eyes on the raven in front of her and reaching out a hand in surrender while stuttering to get her words right.

If he'd been intimidating before he certainly was now that he was practically cornering her like a predator.

Her back hit a tree and he took her momentary distraction as a chance to grab her arms, most likely aiming to turn her and see what her hand was covering.

The moment he touched her skin she was overwhelmed by his scent, the powerful aura he held threatening to seep into her own and overtake it and she couldn't do anything about it.

His scent seemed to almost disarm her to the point where she couldn't find the strength to fight back against him, although she had no doubt that anything she tried he would easily be able to block and counter effortlessly.

Rosile had no choice but to let him turn her around to see her seal, feeling cool air on the back of her neck as he moved her shirts fabric to the side.

He was silent as he did so, Rosile waiting shamefully.

Never in her life had she felt so exposed, so exposed and embarrassed that it overruled her fear, to which she felt sheshould be grateful for.

"Hn"

He was off her and she could breathe again.

Fixing her shirt passionately while quickly turning so she could make sure she knew where he was Rosile found him with his back facing her again, heading towards his targets.

"You can leave now"

Rosile did.

* * *

The wind brushed through her hair as she walked down the path, the sound comforting her as she walked aimlessly to get away for a moment and clear her head.

Chunnin Exams.

Bills.

Robbie.

Sasuke.

She had too much to deal with and it was beginning to overwhelm her with stress, so much that she thought she felt a migraine coming on, much to her displeasure.

Rosile had thrown away her previous mantra's in her head that went on to say how unfair her life was and how she shouldn't have to be dealing with this at a young age, she understood she was being pathetic.

She was lucky enough to have Robbie with her still and both of them still be alive.

And as much as it seemed daunting and terrible for her at the moment she would just have to deal with it, it wasn't going to get better with moaning and whining, the only way to get through it was to roll with it.

And first things first was Bills.

She would have to talk to the Hokage about where to go with that which would most likely have to wait a while until the Chunnin Exam things were sorted and she could have a meeting with him.

She assumed that if her father had a house set out for them then there should be money layed out for them somewhere, but that was just wishful thinking and she had to be prepared for the worst.

If it came to Rosile would get a part-time job somewhere, who knows who would hire someone as young as her but she would have to make do.

The second thing on her priority list was most definitely Robbie.

It would be wise to talk to his sensei and see how he was progressing with his 'ninja training'.

He seemed to be doing fine with making friends if watching him run around with Konohamaru today was any indication.

Home life wasn't much of an issue since Rosile could cook something eatable and bath him fine.

Barely eatable but it was better than nothing.

And of course she was so glad that she had the Nara's as neighbors so that if she got a job she could easily send him there while she left if need be, though it wasn't desired to need to work at night she'd already made peace with it if needed.

And Rosile was prepared to just push the whole Sasuke situation out of her head for the time being, weirdly enough with all of her stress it seemed like the least of her worries.

And that probably meant she was going insane.

The wind blowing against her broke her out of her thoughts, the strong gust significantly stronger than before and her head tilted up enough to see past the trees and see the sky turning a grey.

If that wasn't a sign to start going home she didn't know what was.

She just hoped that Robbie had got home fine.

Taking a walk was a complete spur of the moment thing and while it had helped a little with clearing things up she only now realized as she turned 180 degree's and headed back the way she came she hadn't been looking where she was going.

At all.

Following a path had seemed like a good idea at the time.

When it was sunny and she had just mulled over the general outlook for the Chunnin Exams with Asuma-sensei.

But now as the weather was taking a turn for the worst with the sun disappearing and the wind blowing cool gusts of wind that blew right through her long-sleeved shirt she noted that it was best to take a walk somewhere she knew next time.

Wrapping her arms around herself to keep warmth in she quickened her strides, doing her best to block out the sound of the tree's blowing almost violently in the background.

It only served to make her feel more cold in which she was entirely _un_-grateful for.

It was weird to her with these weather changes since most of the time back in Kirigakure the weather stayed mostly the same all year round, whereas here it was sunny one moment but could rain the next.

Strange indeed.

* * *

The more she walked the more her mind began to panic.

The path didn't seem as if it was going anywhere and she tried to retrace her steps as to work out how long she had been walking for before.

Now the clouds were completely covering the sky and she felt the beginning of rain start to fall on the path which, inconveniently, wasn't sheltered by the tree's.

Someone up there was punishing her she just knew it.

Her feet were aching now, not used to walking around since back in Kiri she would normally stay inside all day and help out with her father in the restaurant.

The strong wind was whipping her hair awkwardly and she was forced to tie it up, which wouldn't normally be a problem yet it only served to let the cold breeze chill the skin of her neck easier.

Honestly, all she really wanted was to get away for a moment, she supposed that was out of the question for a while.

Perhaps when she got home she would take a hot bath and sort out the rest of he-

"Rosile?"

Her head whipped around at the sound of her name.

It could barely be heard over the deafening sound of wind and when she didn't see anyone straight away she reasoned she could have just been hearing things.

But when she heard it again she managed to find the person the voice belonged to.

Walking through the tree's Shikamaru had a frown indenting his forehead, his hair barely moving with the wind and his hands in his pockets as usual while he walked.

He didn't look cold like she did, which was surprising since he wore a lot less than she was, and he made a bee line for her when they caught eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

He said it like an accusation.

Something she wasn't used to and by instinct she went to tuck her hair behind her ear but stopped when she realized it was tied back, holding her hands behind her back as a substitute for the habit.

"I- uh- walking?" she replied, her face most likely showing her confusion with his tone of voice and he only kept walking towards her until they were about two feet away from each other.

"Walking? Cant you see the sky?"

Oh he was being condescending now, and she felt a little bit offended.

Not enough to be angry with him but still enough to huff out her cheeks in annoyance with the spiky haired boy.

"I was going home but it's just taking me a while"

It wasn't a lie, it was taking her a _while _to get home.

Too long in fact since now she was shivering a little and rain was starting to come down properly now, turning the dirt beneath her feet dark.

Shikamaru took a deep breath, his face showing disbelief for a moment before he lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in what Rosile assumed was frustration.

What?

She hadn't lied and she didn't want to dawdle it was getting cold.

What had she said that would elict his reaction?

"Rosile.." he groaned, giving her a look with his eyes half-open as if to say 'you've got to be kidding me', "This path goes in circles"

Oh.

Oh..

She felt stupid.

And with the look Shikamaru was giving her she felt stupid times 10.

How long had she been on this path and not realized? Shouldn't she have seen something familiar to trigger her brain?

Rosile covered her face with her hands and groaned into them, feeling her cheeks burn with embarrassment and wanted the world to open up and swallow her whole.

And it made it worse that it was Shikamaru telling her this, god the pit of her stomach was churning with humiliation and she couldn't think of a time she'd felt worse.

She heard a sigh and peeked through her fingers to look at him.

Just then he took hold of her wrists, bringing them away from her face and holding onto them, looking into her eyes with a stern expression and making her hold her breath.

"Didn't i tell you not to-"

His attention was diverted from her face, for which she let out the breath she'd been holding since it made her nervous when he looked her in the eyes, and she watched as he looked down at her wrists, fingers pressing into her skin gently.

"You're freezing" he stated and without warning, Rosile stood stark still watching Shikamaru as he cupped his hands over top of hers and brought them up to his lips where he blew his warm breath over her hands, warming them almost instantly.

Along with her cheeks as she felt like she was on fire.

She wanted to look away but worried that it might divert his attention to her face again.

That and maybe she wanted him to keep warming her hands like that.

Oh gosh what the hell was going on with her right now?

Rosile simply stared at him as he rubbed his hands over hers, blowing warm air and then rubbing again.

He seemed to invade all of her senses, his face and eyes, his scent, the feel of his hands on hers, and the feel of his hands holding hers.

And while finding herself completely captivated by him she felt herself wondering what his blood would tast-

Wow.

That woke her up.

Why did she always think about that?

Way to kill her moment.

Shikamaru's hands moved up to her forearms where he made a noise of disapproval and clicked his tongue in annoyance, looking her in the eyes.

"Come on, let's get home before you catch a cold" he said, taking one of her hands and leading the way, cutting through the trees and leaving that god-awful path behind.

Meanwhile Rosile tried her best not to focus on how their hands were intertwined at the moment, or the back of his neck.

Only coming to reality a few moments later to reply with a shy, "I'm not going to die if i get a cold Shikamaru.."

* * *

"I'm dying"

"What did i tell you?"

Rosile groaned in response, turning over from under the covers of her bed and turning away from Shikamaru, kicking off the blankets while she was at it.

Shikamaru merely rolled his eyes at her, mumbling something about her being 'troublesome' and moving forwards on his chair until his hand rested on top of her head.

A gruff voice then overshadowed Shikamaru's, the scent of smoke filling her lungs and a dry cough forced its way through her mouth.

"You we're lucky Shikamaru found you Rosile," Asuma stressed, taking another drag from his cigarettes.

How many did he smoke a day?

Ino, who was standing next to Asuma suddenly turned on the older man for blowing smoke and berated him for it, ushering their sensei towards the window so that the smoke wouldn't come towards Rosile.

For which Rosile was grateful, it really hurt to move her throat.

After Shikamaru had dropped her off the night before, Rosile had felt fine, more than fine when she found Robbie at home safe and sound telling her about his adventures with Konohamaru.

She'd gone about the routine as usual, dinner, bathe, bedtime.

And for the first time in a long time she'd slept soundly, not bothered by Robbie's awkward sleeping habits that led to him stealing all the bed and blankets.

And yet the moment she woke she felt worse than the time she had food poisoning and needed to throw up every few hours.

A weight was pressing down on all of her limbs while her head felt as if it was pounding against her skull.

Rosile had attempted a few times to get out of bed or even roll over but even tasks as small as those were daunting.

Before she knew it there was a knock at the door and Shikamaru was above her, checking her temperature.

Soon after that all of team 10 had arrived and decided to look after her for the day, telling her that it was all because of their team bonding but Rosile had an inkling that it was because she didn't have anyone to look after her at home.

But then again she wasn't exactly complaining, if it weren't for them she would've been stuck in bed all day without being able to make food or anything else of the sort.

And thank heavens Ino was a girl or else bathroom trips would have been extremely awkward.

Choji on the other hand, was a bit of a head-scratcher.

The boy had barely said a few words to her ever since she'd joined the team, and didn't look as if he was going to make the effort anytime soon.

Then again, she knew herself that she was indeed very awkward, so it would prove to be a difficult task.

Choji sat in the corner on a stool eating chips and minding his own business, which normally wouldn't have bothered her if he hadn't had looked so.. bored.

It wasnt as if she didn't want to know Choji but there had been pressing matters ever since shed arrived in Konoha and trying to get to know everything would just be another leading factor to more stress.

Begrudgingly, knowing it was the right thing to do, Rosile added both Ino and Choji on her minds 'to do list' in order to get to know them.

They were her team after all, and foremost, they were Shikamaru's friends and it wasn't her place to get between that.

"Will you three excuse us for a few minutes," Asuma drawled casually, addressing the team suddenly, "Rosile and I have something we need to discuss."

Each Gennin in the room gave him a quizzical look as if to implore him to continue, and when he gave no sign of doing so they each got up and left the room.

First Choji, taking his chips along with him, then Ino, who made sure to give Asuma a pointed look a his cigarette before winking at Rosile and lastly Shikamaru, who looked inwardly annoyed at being left out, again.

When it was just Rosile and Asuma in the room he got straight to the point, putting out his cigarette and coming over to her bedside where he urged her to turn around so he could look at her seal.

Rosile did so silently, a little put off by his fingers on her skin but kept her mouth shut, Asuma was her sensei and most certainly knew a great deal more about seals than she did.

With a sigh his fingers were gone and she was able to sit back again, Asuma letting out a sigh and sitting on the chair next to her where Shikamaru had previously been sitting.

"Your seal is showing signs of deteriorating-" Asuma began, "I don't have a clear idea on how long you have before it wears off, but it was the Hokage's decision not to renew the seal or remove it"

Huh? Wasn't that the plan? To get rid of it so that they could figure it out and maybe fix her?

Asuma must have read the confusion on her face for he continued talking with a calm voice, "This seal is unlike one the village have seen before and they don't want to tamper with it,"

Sounds fair she supposed, but that didn't make her feel any better about it.

If the seal was truly new to Konoha then what did that mean for her and Robbie's safety?

"-At the rate it is deteriorating, you have a few weeks before it disappears, and that will be during the exams."

That.. was a whole bunch more for her to take in.

They were just going to leave it and see what happened.

Didn't that seem a little.. wrong?

And then another idea popped up into her head.

"But what if it disappears during the chunnin exams and it.." Rosile trailed off, not knowing which word would be appropriate to use, considering she had little to no idea about seals and what they could hide.

Asuma nodded, seemingly glad she was keeping track of everything and in all honesty she was surprising herself,n "Hokage-sama has stated that you will still participate in the chunnin exams, but if it becomes a problem we will remove you from it"

Ah, so that's how it would be.

Well, at least she had time, after the whole Sasuke incident she wasn't sure if she even wanted to leave the room, netherless go to a ninja exam with people like him, but since she was entered, it didn't look as if she had much of a choice at all.

Asuma gave her another closed eye smile, waving his hands idly, "It seems all we've been doing is talking lately, when you're feeling better your training in taijutsu will begin so best rest up"

Asuma raised, ruffling her hair before taking a drag of his cigarette, "You shouldn't worry so much, a girl your age should be going shopping or something"

Rosile smiled minisculey, feeling her spirit brightened a little after his action.

"I'll try" said Rosile, settling back under the covers again.

He was right of course about her worrying, and she knew it did he no good to merely freak out over it.

Right now she was sick, and being sick meant that she didn't have to think for a while.

And along with that, being sick also meant that he nose was blocked, meaning no annoying scents were making her paranoid anymore.

For the first time in a long time, Rosile felt normal, and normal, she decided, felt very good.

* * *

Next time:

Rosile's training really begins, Rosile sorts out her problems, Shikamaru and Rosile have a talk.

* * *

Outake:

"Can you help me with my clothes tomorrow Rosie? It was awful this morning"

"Awful?"

"Yeah, we got my head stuck in the armhole and it was-"

"Wait we?"

"Yeah, me and Shikamaru, since you were sick."

* * *

**So its been a while and I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter.**

**Originally I had the idea to make the chapter all over the place to symbolize Rosile's thoughts and this is what i sort of came up with. Do tell me what you think about it yeah?**

**Also, Rosile's hair is red now.. yeah sorry, my bad thats on me.**

**Also Sasuke is a bit.. Aggressive in this, perhaps he is a bit ooc and for that i apologize.**

**Please leave a review and all that good stuff to keep me motivated :) I love all your words :)**

**Take Care,**

**PrincessJade.**


	12. Chapter 12- Calm

"You know when Asuma-sensei said 'Shopping' I don't think he had this in mind" Shikamaru huffed, readjusting his grip on the basket she'd handed him and gave her a pointed look, Rosile shrugged in reply.

It'd been two weeks since she'd gotten sick and in those weeks she had gone under a drastic change.

The first and most foremost was her 'social skills' with her team.

Since her training had intensified she'd been forced to communicate for the sake of d-rank missions and training tests Asuma had them doing, and with that she slowly but surely became more and more comfortable with them.

So comfortable in fact that she had asked Shikamaru to go shopping with her like Asuma had suggested a while back, something that 'girls' did.

But Shikamaru seemed highly annoyed by it.

"This is a GIRL thing to do Rosile, and I am not a GIRL-"

Rosile stopped listening for the moment, rolling her eyes in a playful matter as she'd began doing when he started getting rather sexist.

It happened a lot as it turned out and had become more and more of a daily thing.

Deliberately 'ignoring' him seemed to annoy him even more which Rosile enjoyed doing, albeit she always felt guilty afterwards.

So in this instance she decided to just bluntly interrupt him instead.

"Shika? Could you please hold this too?"

Holding out a loaf of bread with a small look of pleading Rosile watched as Shikamaru stopped his rant and audibly shut his mouth, teeth clicking together with the harshness.

She reasoned he most likely realized he wasn't talking about anything important and felt a little silly, judging by the small red tint in his cheeks.

He was also doing that more often as well, chatting more only to stop talking part-way and go red, she wondered if he was feeling alright.

They spent a significant amount of time together walking to and from training and she had gotten more comfortable with being closer to him.

Rosile had found she enjoyed her time with him, a lot, perhaps more than she should or than what was considered normal but she supposed that was to be expected with friends, she wondered if he was like this when he met Choji.

Speaking of the red-haired boy, Rosile made sure to leave Shikamaru to hang out with the boy as often as possible.

Well, weekends and days they weren't training.

She imagined being friends with someone would be hard if they were spending all their time and energy with someone else and couldn't find it in herself to be selfish and take Shikamaru everyday.

And on those days she would suffice with hanging out with Robbie or on the days she felt courage, Ino.

Of which she normally came home completely exhausted.

Coming out of her thoughts she realized that Shikamaru, with a grumble, had taken the loaf of bread from her and placed it in the basket, looking away and mumbling lowly to himself quietly so that she couldn't hear, sounding as if he were berating himself.

"What was that?" Rosile asked quietly, feeling a little rude for zoning out and reached out for his arm when he didn't answer her right away thinking he mightn't have heard her.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide when she did and he sucked in a breath, his body visibly freezing at the action and he began to erratically change his view.

Something was definitely up with him.

"Shika?" she asked, closing the distance between them so that she could reach him better and placed the back of her hand against his forehead to check his temperature, worrying over him.

Shikamaru jerked back and cleared his throat, looking anywhere but her.

"I'll uh- I'll be over here" he said, pointing towards another stall and heading over, his cheeks gone bright red and his jaw tensed.

Rosile stood a little stunned in the middle of the road wondering dazedly, and a little put off by the subtle rejection, what was up with him.

Was he sick? Was he stressed?

Sick was plausible if the heat coming from his forehead was any indication, but then again he wasn't sniffing or showing any signs that would suggest it.

Maybe..

The Chunnin Exams?

Rosile wasn't sure when exactly the exams were scheduled but Asuma had trained them extra hard lately so it was safe to assume that they were soon, maybe even tomorrow.

But in other matters, she had managed to get her payments sorted.

After she'd approached Asuma about it, which would single-handedly stick out as the most terrifying experience she'd ever had so far, they talked it out and he helped her patch things up.

It wasn't uncommon for kids as young as her to be living alone in the 'Shinobi' villages, mostly the Academy claimed them if no parents were found but in her case the Hokage pulled some strings as to let her and her brother stay in their father's house.

The payments would have all been paid for until she had enough income to pay her way on her own and she was also lucky enough to find that her father had some funds for both her and Robbie.

The catch?

She wouldn't be able to get access to it before she was 15.

Clearly her father hadn't planned on passing on before she was 15.

Her seal ached at the memory of him.

With all of that in mind, if team 10 didn't do enough d-ranked missions then Rosile would have to work around the town for a bit more money.

Starting tonight at one of the small pubs, washing cups and dishes.

Rosile tucked her hair behind her ear, coming out of her thoughts to find Shikamaru again, looking over to where he said he'd be.

Perhaps she could convince him to help her unpack her groceries, for 'hanging outs' sake.

"Hey Shika, do you maybe wanna hang out some more?"

* * *

Rosile sneezed into the crook of her arm, careful not to spill any water on herself and shook the stray hairs to of her eyes.

Her hands were wrapped in hideously bright coloured gloves and she had scrubbed dishes for the past three hours.

The sun had only just gone down and her boss was happy with the amount of work she was getting done and said she would most likely get to go home early if she continued the good work.

The pub wasn't very high-class and was a strict 'Shinobi only' establishment, where ninja of all kinds came to drink away their sorrows.

Quite a depressing place honestly but the drinks were rumored to be cheaper than any other bar in Konoha, so the bar was almost full of people.

Rosile didn't get to see much, apart from the sink, a never-ending stack of dishes and the bathroom, and she was told not to go into the actual bar area, as she was underage.

She technically shouldn't even have been able to work here but the boss was a nice elderly man who seemed to sympathize with her situation.

Rosile only needed a few more bucks for Robbie's equipment, and then she would work on getting her own, not that she needed much as Asuma and her were still trying to find her 'weapon'.

One that applied to her.

It was rumored that her clan the Shukketsu used a range of weapons, from simple kunai all the way to scythes, and it only made it harder for her to find one that she would feel comfortable with.

Her worries were increasing with the ever looming chunnin exams coming closer and her training was still on basic terms. Stuff like learning to mold her chakra properly and exercises to increase her speed and endurance.

Which meant for about three hours Asuma would have her on circuits and courses and then after lunch, more chakra exercises.

It felt as if he were neglecting other areas of training on purpose and only teaching her things like being fast because the only thing he wanted her to do was.. well run away.

Rosile didn't have a problem with this of course, any way to _avoid_ conflict in this exam was welcomed easily if the rumors had any truths to them. And with the way she noticed Sasuke training when passing him on her way home, she had reason to believe that anybody would be a formidable foe.

But to make matters worse, her 'instinctual taijutsu' hadn't made an appearance since that day, no matter how hard Ino kicked her, and Ino kicked hard.

She had to be on her feet. Or at least hide behind Choji and Shikamaru.

Or heck, even Ino. She could talk them to death.

The sound of glass clanging together broke her out of her thoughts as a busboy brought in another load of cups for her to wash and Rosile huffed a stray hair out of Her face.

Before anything happened. She'd have to get this finished.

* * *

"Tomorrow?!"

"Yeah. I recommended you all for the preliminaries"

Rosile looked around to see if Ino, Choji and Shikamaru's expressions mirrored her own, and was happy to find they were just as slack-jawed and wide-eyed as her.

The Chunnin exams were tomorrow, and she felt very unprepared to face them.

It was a different story to the other three, as they had their whole 'Ino-Shika-Cho' thing going on and had practiced that non stop since news of the exams first came about, mostly giving Shikamaru another thing to complain about on their walks home as well.

Which, okay, was great that they had their own defense to get them through, and she was happy that they would be able to make it on their own. But Rosile felt as if she didn't fit into ANY of this?!

It didn't feel as if she were a part of the team, it just felt as if she was just.. around for the show.

She hoped she'd be able to outrun any opponents.

Asuma seemed to notice her then, perhaps seeing all of her worry wash over her face and cleared his throat, masking the sound of Ino and Choji's whining and Shikamaru's groans.

"How about you three get started? Hm? I need a word with Rosile"

Great.

The two set off while Shikamaru eyes them suspiciously again, Rosile deduced it as annoyance since he normally knew everything that was going on, and when Asuma-sensei and her would have these talks, he was never a part of them.

He left anyway, but she was expecting a barrage off questions as soon as training was over.

Clearing his throat again, Asuma-sensei reached into his pocket to retrieve another cigarette, taking his time in lighting it before he started talking.

"I supposed you've noticed that, you aren't a part of their formation"

Ouch. So this is what they were discussing, she hoped she didn't burst into tears with feelings of rejection reaching up into her throat.

"And i hope you don't think me cruel because of it. But as your situation is an exception, we've had to think outside the box"

Rosile frowned, wondering what he was getting at.

"You'll be going into the exams with team 10 but under Shikamaru's supervision. It seems Hokage-sama wants to ease you into this way of life before we make you an official Nin."

It dawned on her then, a sad feeling in her soul filling her up and threatening to swallow her whole.

They didn't trust her, and they probably never had.

At least not fully, and they knew that they had the man-power to take her if it ever came to it but the fact was still awful.

She didn't feel good.

"And.." Asuma trailed off, his voice telling her that he really didn't want to be the bearer of the bad news. Yet the sincerity only made her feel worse.

"Once this exam is over, and you decide you want to become Shinobi still, we've assigned you a new sensei."

Rosile's eyes lit up, looking him in the eyes hopefully and smiling for the first time today, and noticed again, that Asuma wasn't done.

"In fact, It seems you've met before, albeit briefly, so you wont have to worry too much"

Rosile nodded, feeling better after the shitty part of the news and thinking the conversation over to take it all in.

She could do with a personal Sensei she supposed, and perhaps they could help her more with her clan and jutsu's. But she also felt guilty for being so thrilled at having a new one.

She didn't know how to convey to Asuma-sensei that it wasn't as if he was a bad sensei, she just felt as if they didn't work well together. That and he also had to think about his own team, rather than her as well, so this could be for the better. Or at least she hoped.

Just now it was up to her to survive the Chunin exams, and prove that she wasn't crazy and could be trusted. Because if she wasn't a ninja after these exams, that would leave her and Robbie defenseless against _her_.

And that made her seal itch.

Asuma sighed in front of her and she felt his demeanor switch. She could feel the small waves of guilt coming from him and she knew that it wasnt his fault, and most of all, she'd wished she'd taken his advice to get to know him better.

Rosile wished she'd taken his advice to get to know all of them better. She really was no good at this whole 'making friends' thing, and a new fear arose in her and she began to wonder if she was anti-social. Or at the very worst, 'socially awkward'.

But she deduced that it couldn't be helped. She couldn't change the things she hadn't done, but she could try to start a new, starting now.

"Hey Asuma-sensei?" She asked.. her voice small and trailing off at the end, but a start at least.

"Hm? What is it?"

Rosile took a breath, brushing her hair behind her ear and making an effort to look him in the eyes, a sincere small smile on her lips.

"How about the team have dinner together after training?"

It felt like a big ask, a really big asked, and her heart was in her throat the whole time, anticipating his answer but also dreading it.

The last time she had gone to dinner.. would've been at Shikamaru's house, and yet she barely spoke a word the whole night, she would have to put in more effort in order to make this team her friends.

Starting with the dinner.

Asuma's eyes crinkled, a smile curling around the cigarette in his mouth and a large hand reached out to ruffle her hair suddenly, a sign of affection that Rosile wasn't used to and had to suppress the urge to move away.

"Thats a great idea Rosile. Dinner before the exams. Such a good idea its on me."

Her smile stretched across her face before she knew it and she felt a pang of joy fill her, a warmth spreading throughout her body with his approval.

"Great!" Rosile exclaimed, a little louder than she expected but was too absorbed to take any notice of it, and then another idea hit her.

"Hey! How about we let Choji decide?"

Asuma's face paled, his hands coming up as if trying to ward her off the idea, but she was already set on it, setting off to run after the orange haired boy to let him decide.

"Thanks sensei!"

* * *

The dinner had gone smoothly. Well.. As smoothly as it could've gone she imagined.

There were laughs and smiles and she didn't have an awful time. She brought Robbie along and Choji's decision had been BBQ. In which Choji ate the most.

And boy. He could really eat.

It was frightening, just how much he shoveled into his mouth and it seemingly disintegrated in a moment before he put more in his mouth, yet his content smile at the end of it all made it feel worth it.

Apart from Asuma barely having enough money to pay for the bill.

Robbie had tugged on her arm halfway through dinner, telling her that he wanted to stay at Konohamaru's house for the night and the shock was most likely evident on her face.

She didn't know why, but she felt as if she couldn't possibly say yes.

She didn't know the Sarutobi family. She didn't know if they would feed him or give him decent bedding or even a pillow.

But, Asuma's encouraging smile and Robbie's adorable puppy eyes had her reluctantly agreeing.

Which left Rosile and Shikamaru alone on the walk home when Asuma opted to take the boy back with him, Robbie too excited to go to even feel intimidated by the large man and practically bolted towards their house, a toothy grin on his face.

The dinner had stretched a while through the night and it was dark by time they set home, Shikamaru next to her with his hands in his pockets, Rosile walking loosely without looking at him.

The air was.. tense.

He wasn't speaking to her, and he was acting weird lately, Rosile wanted to ask him if anything was going on but decided against it, opting to keep her mouth shut and simply let the silence linger on.

Yet it was suffocating.

She had to say something. They were.. friends. Right?

She opened her mouth to speak-

"Did Asuma tell you about the exams?"

Her jaw shut audibly, her eyes searching for his in the twilight, streetlamps lit around them on the path.

"Yeah. I suppose I'm not gonna be on team 10 after these huh?"

She could see Shikamaru's jaw tighten.

Strange.

"We have to focus on the exams right now." he said with resolve, his eyes no longer avoiding hers, "And if something goes wrong with that seal I want you to tell me"

Rosile blinked, she'd forgotten all about it for the night.

It had been playing up recently but she was able to forget about it while spending time with the team.

A revelation.

Rosile nodded before she thought about his words twice. She knew that whoever was pulling the strings for her wouldn't put her under Shikamaru's supervision if he wasn't capable. She had to trust him if they were going into the exams together.

And he was trying to trust her it seemed. Or at least that was what she assumed was happening.

He nodded again, signifying the end of the conversation, cutting it off bluntly and Rosile was hit by a small wave of rejection.

She had no idea what being friends entailed, but she knew that if she wanted anyone to be her friend. It would be Shikamaru.

She just needed to give more effort.

* * *

"Rosie"

In front of her now. A figure. impossibly raising up from out of the black puddle, covered from head to toe in the muck and she heard a sick bubbling noise coming from it, as if the liquid was boiling.

Her feet and knees started to burn and Rosile cowered into the corner of the room, tears streaming down her face freely now as the tall figure made its way to her, its long black fingers reached out towards her as if to grab her.

She could see white teeth shimmer in the moonlight when it smirked.

"Rosie.." Those eyes.. "you wont get away this time.."

Her world went black, the moonlight disappearing desolately and she was being dragged into the pitch black pool which was thick and unbelievably hot.

She was going to burn alive.

A demons laugh echoed around her, her hope ran out and her scream rang out throughout the house.

I know those eyes...

I know who you are...

With one last attempt at clawing her way out an angry snarl came from Rosile's mouth, her teeth clenched together and her seal burning hotter than the black muck.

Rei.. Her stepmother.

* * *

Outtake: (... means wait a few seconds)

"You invited me over to help you unpack groceries?"

"You don't want to?"

"No."

"_Come on Shika_.."

"Don't talk like that! Fine I'll help!"

"Thank you"

"Whatever"

...

"Hey Shikamaru, am I your girlfriend?"

"WHAT?"

"What?"

"Why would you even say that?!"

"We're friends aren't we?"

"Yeah?!"

"And I'm a _girl_.."

"Rosile just.. you don't say _girlfriend _okay?! That's different!"

"Oh, okay"

...

"We should hang out more often"

* * *

**This chapter is kind of all over but Its the calm before the storm. The storm is coming.**

**If you see any mistakes feel free to call me out on it.**

**I am really sorry for the wait but it isn't apologies you want is it? **

**Also I have a few one-shots relating to this story that I may post up in this story under 'one-shot' titles.**

**I'm already writing the next chapter so anticipate and please review.**

**Take Care Guys,**

**-PrincessJade**

**P.S. Her hair _IS_ dark red. It'll make sense later. Sorry for the indecisiveness**


	13. Chapter 13- Begin

**Unedited and slowly falling to get into the 'M' category.**

* * *

Upon entry to room 301, any word of encouragement that could have been uttered before went completely out the window and had run away to the furthest village.

Mean, strong and scary nin both completely surrounded and outnumbered them, by a lot. Each one with a different sneer on their faces, most stood with their arms crossed across their chest, puffed out as to make them look bigger, and obviously working.

Many of them looked older than her team by a decent amount and most likely had several years spent on training and missions to prepare for the Shinobi life. Something that nagged Rosile every second considering she'd only been on d-rank missions and barely passed the Gennin test last week.

Rouge thoughts plagued her mind as she kept between Shikamaru and Choji alongside Ino who, outwardly, came off as aloof as they came, contrary to what her blood was giving off, as the four of them sauntered towards the edge of the room, away from the doorway.

Had the Hokage merely thrown her in here to die? Was Shikamaru under orders to abandon her halfway through the exam as to make her death seem like an accident? It all made sense and it all seemed plausible. And with the looks she was getting, it did nothing to calm her nerves.

But the most pressing thing, and not all the foreign people around her who could most likely crush her without a second thought, was the amount of blood lust that circulated around the room.

Some nin, like the boy with gray hair and glasses, the only other leaf ninja in the room came off calm, as if nothing was wrong in the world. Completely at ease. Whereas, the boy with red hair, standing stark in the middle of the room with his arms crossed, was unimaginable.

Her mouth dropped open once she focused on him, his blood completely flushing out his skin tone in her vision and she could see it very clearly coursing through him. With the unmistakable smell of evil beneath it. And... was that? Was that blood in the gourd on his back?

Something brushed against her elbow and Rosile gasped, jerking away and whirling to see a less than pleased Shikamaru stare back at her with dark brown eyes of doom, reaching back over to take hold of her wrist and pull her over to where she saw Ino was.. Ino being.. on top of Sasuke?

Choji followed along, opening a bag of chips while he did and Rosile took notice that Sasuke's team had arrived, Ino and Sakura drawing all kinds of attention by yelling at each other, Rosile moved closer to Shikamaru.

"Oh look, it's _you_ guys. I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I didn't realize it would be _this_ lame"

Rosile blanched at Shikamaru, who had conveniently let go of her wrist to push his hands back into his pockets again, back to his familiar slouching posture and half-closed eyes, moving closer to Choji as he talked. With the way he spoke it seemed as if he didn't like Naruto that much.

When Naruto retorted Rosile saw een more heads turn, her face heating up with embarrassment and she looked down and moved back until her back hit the wall, brushing her hair behind her ear and doing her best to look small.

With all the commotion her doubts were creeping back into her head and she clenched her fists against her sides.

Was she even capable of holding her own out there?

She supposed if she concentrated hard enough then she'd be able to focus on the blood to get away from any-

"Huh?" Rosile wondered aloud, looking up.

It had only been a hint, a small hint that lasted a second, and if she had have been listening to the others she might have missed it completely, but there was no denying it, she knew that smell.

She couldn't forget that smell.

Looking up with renewed determination she scanned the room slowly, starting from her left and going over Sand, Mist and other village nin, a band of three nin from sound in the middle, one with bandages covering most of his face, but right in the corner, almost completely shadowed from view with all the others in the room.

A trio of more Sound Nin. But one in particular standing out from the rest.

"It can't be.." Rosile whispered, her eyes widening from shock.

A sinister smile rising on her lips as she locked eyes with Rosile.

_Maya_. Her step-sister.

Nothing.

Nothing again. Complete silence and complete detachment.

Breathe. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Turn away. Keep your face straight Rosile. Stop focusing on her blood. Stop focusing on HER.

Maya looked the same as she had the last time Rosile had seen her, same black hair tied up in a complicated bun that reminded Rosile of a crown, Maya's annoying obsession about being a 'Princess'. Same olive skin. Same eyes, as black as her hair. Same sickly sweet features.

It was entirely unfair for Maya to be beautiful. But she was. Just like her mother. Fatally beautiful.

She couldn't. She couldn't look away, she couldn't focus on something else, this wasnt happening, maybe if she looked hard enough her eyes would adjust and she'd realise that the girl was someone else, that her eyes were playing a trick on her.

But she wasnt changing, and she wasnt going away. And Maya would only be here for one thing. To ki-

Before she could react, a hard force knocked into her and she was pushed hard into the wall behind her, a flash of gray hair crossing her vision in a split second and with the shock she had bit down on her lip. Hard.

The guy came off and took of his glasses, Rosile noticing it was the leaf nin from before belatedly and felt her wrist being grabbed again and she resisted being pulled before seeing Shikamaru's face.

Oh.

Focus on him.

When they were this close, she could see the ever so faint little freckles brush over his nose, fading ones it seemed, his eyebrows turned in with a frown again, jaw clenching as his fingers pushed gently under her chin to have her look up.

His eyes were such a deep brown colour, like old oak that had been rained on. And he did smell like tree's. He was so much like a tree. God and she did love trees..

He was so close to her, she could count his eyelashes, she could feel small callouses on his fingers from holding kunai, and if she leaned in just a bit more, she could reach up and bite down on his neck-

"Pay attention will you?"

"What?" she wondered aloud, blinking at his brashness and without thinking, reached up to touch the hand under her chin, so close to connecting them completely, almost subconsciously, as if it was the most natural thing to do.

But he pulled away, "You didn't move when Kabuto was coming right for you!"

_Who the hell was Kabuto_?

Shikamaru's mouth opened a fraction, as if in disbelief after watching her expression change into the confused one it held now. "Were you even listening?!"

"Uhhh."

The guys behind her began to talk again, stealing Shikamaru's attention, his keen eyes taking note of everything and something inside of her clicked, a sense of pride filling her.

He was analysing them, from the start he was making sure to get every bit of info he could on the nin currently fighting, and by watching their technique it would become useful material later, should they encounter these guys.

'_Knowing is half the battle_.' She'd heard him say that before, and she knew now that she wasn't in the hands of some clueless Gennin. Shikamaru actually possessed a gifted brain.

Unable to resist the urge, Rosile scanned the corner of the room again, trying to pick Maya out again to keep her eye on her, but the girl had vanished, along with her team.

Why was she with the sound village.

The other Sound team behind her came off sinister, and Maya's team also had that uneasy feel to them, but mostly, they seemed to be drawing next to no attention to themselves.

Smart.

There were smart nin in this exam.

If she wanted to get through it, she would have to be smart.

* * *

She wasn't smart. She wasn't smart at all.

What the hell were they even thinking giving her questions like these? Did people actually know the answers to this?

Rosile stared blankly at the paper on her desk, both nin on her sides were eagerly scribbling away answers, beads of sweat forming on their foreheads from concentration and obvious hard thinking because since the exam had officially started half an hour ago, she hadn't written anything but her name.

Dread filled her again.

She could very well get her team disqualified if she didn't manage to get one right, even though her situation was '**special**' she didn't want to damage their chances of being Chunnin. They deserved it more than her.

Hell, _everyone_ probably deserved it more than her.

Rosile sunk in her chair, beginning to feel defeated.

Not only was she going to fail the exam, she was going to fail first thing, before progressing, which was an embarrassing way to go.

But at the very least, she wouldn't have to deal with Maya.

Rosile felt at war with herself and her thoughts, and mostly, her seal.

Ever since her nightmare last night, her seal hadn't burned, and she wondered if it was wearing off, while she certainly felt the blood more intensely when she focused, she could ignore it as best she could as long as she was thinking about something else.

And with Maya as an excuse, she could barely think about it at all. But she couldn't decide, if she wanted to run away and do everything in her power not to encounter Maya _ever _again, hoping she would go back to her village straight after the exams had finished.

_Or_.

Did she want to fight her.

Rosile was in no way confident in her skills, but the burning desire in her heart to do everything to stop the girl could not be ignored.

She had to keep her away from Robbie.

The sound of a pencil scribbling had her slyly looking over to the guy next to her, a small glance showing her that he'd gotten through half of the test.

'_All I have to do is get **one** right.._' She thought, frowning in thought before an idea clicked in her mind, _'I wonder.._'

Closing her eyes, Rosile focused completely and utterly on the boy beside her, breathing in the scent of grass, sweat almost overpowering his natural scent, and tried to push herself to feel what his blood was doing.

If she could only feel the way his hand moved.. she would be able to mimic his pencil movements, and potentially get a question.

She knew that there was no way of knowing, at least if she looked, if the answer was even correct, this was way beyond her knowledge and she didn't even humor the thought of understanding what the right answer was, but it seemed as if cheating was the only option.

She couldn't mess this up.

Breathing deep like Asuma-sensei had taught her when she was to search for her chakra, letting every other thought leave her mind while focusing on the point at hand she could sense every movement the blood was making.

And to her luck, with all the writing he had done his hand was heated, making it easier for her to since.

Concentrating hard she scribbled mindlessly while sensing, wishing the guy next to her could slow his writing down just a tad but decided that it would be **suicide** to voice her displeasure.

Done.

Opening her eyes Rosile felt relief fill her.

Her efforts were payi-

It was incomprehensible.

Shit.

With an inward groan, Rosile closed her eyes and began the routine again.

* * *

Rosile was sweating now. Obviously sweating.

Ibiki was talking, explaining the last question in detail. Slowly of course. Dreadfully slowly and drawing out the painful test that made her want to pull her eyes out.

She didn't care anymore, she just needed to freaking KNOW.

Had she been discovered? Did she get all the questions wrong? She'd only managed to get two of the questions readable before the guy next to get had a kunai shot into his paper and he was thrown out of the room.

She just needed to stop all this now, it was killing her. The suspense. The unknown. The threat of failure threatening to eat her aliv-

"You. All. **Pass**!"

Her jaw dropped.

_'I'm gonna die of stress before I even have my life threatened.'_

* * *

Leading up to the forest of death Rosile had been absent-minded at best, looking around wide-eyed, concentrating on nothing and very obviously not here with her team.

It didn't take long for Shikamaru to take her by the arm and hustle her over to a bush a little ways away from both Ino and Choji, the two suspiciously eyeing the two of them as they moved away, Shikamaru standing in front of her as to block their view.

Rosile knew he was going to berate her, and give her a small but pointed lecture on how reckless she was being and how her actions would affect the whole team and she knew she wouldn't be able to bluff her way out of it.

She knew now that he was sharp enough to pick up on behaviour and he knew her well enough to realise that something was up, that there were things that he didn't know and that she wasnt telling him.

Being dishonest wasnt something that she wanted to do, wasnt something she intended on being when she made the decision to become a Shinobi to protect Robbie.

It was obvious there were things she was going to have to change about herself if she wanted to get to where she wanted to go, but it wasnt as if she wanted to change completely, to become a shell of her former self.

Rosile didn't want to have to hide anything.

She didn't want to have anything to hide.

She felt she could trust Shikamaru, and if they were truly friends then she should be able to put her trust into him, and tell him what was going on.

If he was a her friend then he would be supportive, perhaps he could even use his sharp wit to help her, or give her advice about what plan of action to take.

Even though she couldn't be sure he wouldn't abandon her first thing, or call her a freak, she had to trust that she could trust him.

She had to at least try.

Before he could speak Rosile raised her hand to stop him, a lump forming in her throat that threatened to close up before she would be able to utter a single word, and fear so strong it could swallow her she forced it out.

She had to try.

"I.. Have to tell you something.." She began, her tone wavering, hesitating, and she met his eyes with her own, her hands pulling her sleeves over her hands in a nervous way, "But I'm.. not sure where to start.."

Shikamaru's frown softened, if only a little, his eyes searching hers for something, she didn't know what, but made it clear that she had his attention.

After a moment of silence on her behalf Shikamaru cleared his throat, eyes fluttering to the side as if trying to come up with words of his own.

"Sounds.." rolling his eyes to find the correct word, "_Complicated_"

Rosile felt her lips turn up at the edges, a hint of a smile, "It is" she replied, her nerves continuing to get the best of her.

Although as vague as she was being, she felt as if Shikamaru was understanding her, like he knew she had to do something, and she knew that if she were to do what she needed to do, she would have to do it alone.

But Shikamaru was assigned to watch her.

Rosile wished he could read her mind.

"I.. Have to go do something" she started, inwardly groaning at her annoying vague words and wanted so badly to bebeautifly articulate. To say the words that would make sense and show him that what she had to do had weight, what she was going to do wasnt evil or bad.

She didn't even know what she planned to do after she found Maya but she knew she had to find her. She just needed Shikamaru to understand.

His eyebrow raised and a hand pulled up to rest on his hip, a bad sign.

"I?"

Oh he was sharp. She was almost jealous of how sharp he was.

"Its important.. and i'll-"

_I could die._

"I promise to tell you everything once I get back"

Shikamaru crossed his arms across his chest, a small huff coming from his lips and his eyes held an emotion she wasnt used to coming from him, and she didn't know what yet.

"Tell me now"

_Now?_

"Its long-"

"You know I'm supposed to watch you Rosile, I can't just turn around and let you roam in the _forest of death_. _And what would I even tell Ino and Choji_?"

He was right, he was almost always right. When was he not right?

He was thinking about his team and she was thinking about herself. She wasn't working with the team and so she would be trained alone after the exam because she didn't think about the team.

She only ever thought about herself. And she only ever thought about Robbie.

But that wasnt true.. Rosile would think about Shikamaru. Fleetingly, at random times, doing random things, when she was shopping, doing the dishes, eating dinner. Shika, Shika, Shika.

Maybe it didn't mean anything, but it felt like it did, it felt like such a natural thing to do.

As long as she thought about Shikamaru she wasn't selfish.

And Maya could hurt Shikamaru.

Maybe it wasn't just for her and Robbie..

"My father was killed, by a woman, and she tried to kill me and Robbie."

She felt the shift in his blood and his body, a tensing had overcome him and she threw her cautions to the wind, she was going to do this.

"Her daughter is here." Rosile frowned, "Maya."

She said her name like a curse, poison, toxic.

"And I think she's here to hurt Robbie"

"And you" he stated.

Rosile nodded, "And me" she agreed.

Her eyes had fallen to the dirt beneath them, bugs trying to crawl into their sandals and grass coming up to tickle their toes, she was unable to look at him, she didn't want to look at him, she didn't know if she wanted to know what he was thinking.

She didn't know if she wanted him to say anything.

Rosile could imagine it all, a scared expression washing over his face, backing up slowly and telling Ino and Choji to keep behind him, him reaching for a kunai and holding it out threateningly, telling her to keep away from him and his friends, him stating that he never wanted to see her again.

She could see him avoiding her at all costs in the village. Waiting for her to walk towards the training grounds before leaving his own house and walking to his team, making sure that she wouldn't sneak up on him.

She could see him abandoning her.

"If you, have to.."

Rosile blanched, gasping as she didn't expect a response in the silence, biting her tongue from allowing her to speak so that she could hear what he was going to say, her eyes searching for his and seeing them right at their feet like hers were a moment before.

His eyes met hers. "-You can go do what you need to do"

Rosile held her breath. That was permission. She had permission.

She nodded, taking a small step back.

If she had permission then.. she should just.. _go_. Right?

Looking at him again, his skin peeking out from his shirt to show his neck, his earring, the way his lips curved like no one else's did.

Rosile didn't stop herself from coming back to hug him.

Face buried in his neck and her arms wrapped around him she could smell and feel him so much more intensely, as if the world around them would disappear if she let it and hell did she want to.

His heart beat faster from the shock and Rosile smiled, not having to look up to see his face turn red for she could feel it anyway.

She felt his arms, after a silent stiff moment, come up around her waist tentatively, as if he were afraid to touch her, and leaned in a bit. Not used to having many hugs herself, Rosile naturally assumed this was how it usually went.

She felt his breath blow a lock of her hair back, feeling it warm on her ear. "Just come back as soon as you can" He mumbled, his voice resonating through her hair.

Stepping back Rosile took a calming breath and looked him over one last time, only wavering to give another nod before jumping up, landing lightly on a thick tree branch steadily and jumping towards another one, starting a steady speed towards the eastern part of the forest, her nose pointed out and on the hunt.

* * *

Once the sun had gone down Rosile realized what real fear was.

Out here in the night alone, without her comrades and in a forest named 'The forest of Death' she suddenly felt very vulnerable, very exposed, and very, very weak.

Rosile had gotten hungry embarrassingly quick but didn't dare open the small bag of crackers she had brought for Choji in her pouch, just in case they weren't able to get him moving. Shikamaru had suggested it, and had also brought some himself.

Managing to salvage a few berries to keep her hunger away, something she wished she had anticipated before she'd run off to begin her search, she retreated back up into the trees, trying to get a vantage point and begin sensing for the participants blood.

In the thick of the forest, it was almost impossible for the moonlight to shine through the leaves and light up the path for her to follow on the dirt, but it also served to make every tree look exactly the same, and more than once had she noticed she'd been going in circles.

Finding Maya was becoming one of the lesser worries when she was forgetting more and more how to navigate her way through the forest.

She had lost team 10's place a while ago, going too far for her to sense their blood and the smells getting lost in the thick of the wood, even with her ability getting stronger it was getting harder and harder to sense nin who were within jumping distance.

Stopping to sense was getting more risky as the night went on, nin most likely having the idea of attacking while another team were sleeping. A good plan as any, and she silently wished luck for her team before pushing her back against the tree, making herself as small as possible to close her eyes and begin sensing for blood again.

Although the smell was hard to pinpoint, with nightfall it was undoubtedly very simple to sense its heat among the cold bark of the trees, a few ninja holed up in a nearby oak probably waiting for a poor soul to come by.

She would have to go around them.

Reaching out once more and finding nothing she gave small huff of frustration, throwing her head back to hit the tree behind her in anger. It all felt like an enormous waste of time.

She couldn't pinpoint Maya's blood like this and with the way she was going she was going to get caught by another team by herself which was ultimately a recipe for disaster. While Maya had a team, she most likely had only spent as much time with them as Rosile had with her own team.

Maya wasn't overly friendly. Rosile wasn't betting on her being good chums with the sound village nin on her squad.

A twig snapped and Rosile whirled to face the assailant, hand on her pouch and berating herself for only having five kunai on her, she'd spent all of her money on Robbie's kit that she neglected to top up her own.

The forest went quiet again, eerie and too quiet, no more sounds of nature rustling and her nose twitched, wishing that she was on more stable grounds to fight as she was surrounded by trees with nowhere to be able to freely fight without hitting a tre-

Their scent hit her nose and she froze.

Could it really be her?

Working up courage, Rosile bit down on her lip and leaned that little bit forward, blinking intently to try to adjust her eyes to the darkness while the nin stalked almost silently beneath her, seeming blissfully unaware of Rosile's presence.

She had to be sure. Rosile would not, under any circumstances, attack unless she was absolutely sure that it was her. It had been a long day and perhaps her nose had tricked her. She was bound to make a little mistake by now and if she was going to-

_'Oh god'_

Warm, hearty breaths of laughter rung out into the silence of the night, stopping her heart in a second. Her stomach shrinking up into her throat.

The noise.. directly next to her ear.

A grotesque whisper slithered into her head, sending shivers down her spine.

"Got you"

_'No you don't.'_

Rosile pushed back lightning fast, taking hold of the arm wrapped around her neck and holding strong until they tipped off the tree and directly onto the ground below, hard, she heard the impact on top of him.

Raising up quickly Rosile jumped back without looking, putting some distance between herself and the other nin, her back colliding with hard bark and hearing the birds in the tree scatter from impact.

Barely missing a beat Rosile reached down for her kunai, ripping open the pouch and rapidly looked up to search for him, only to see a blur before there was a sharp pain in her gut, a loud muffling noise filling her ears and her breath being knocked out of her in an instant.

Her neck was grabbed and she couldn't take the needed breath she needed to recover from the blow, scratching at the solid arm and fingers in a futile attempt to get him to stop, but to no avail.

The restraint in her throat had her blood rushing and panic filling her head.

She couldn't think rationally or about anything other than the need to **breathe**.

**Breathe****breathe****breathe****breathe****breathe****breathe****breathe-**

Kicking out hard, he staggered long enough for her to swipe up at his face, the nin disappearing immediately and Rosile dropped to her knees to take in a hacking inhale, her lungs constricting with every attempt and she coughed violently, rubbing her neck gently to try to ease it.

Rosile could hear the laughter again, a slow deliberate chuckle that filled her whole world.

She looked up. On all fours from the effort and made sense of the wiry ninja's frame, a sick crooked smile slashed across his face and shining in the moonlight, eyes like ice staring into her soul, offset as if he were mad.

His forehead protector engraved with a single musical note in the center.

One of Maya's team.

"You might as well stay there you silly girl" he drawled, a bored look overcoming his initial smile and he leaned back against one of the many trees, examining his hand as if he didn't have a care in the world, "Maya will find us soon"

_Maya_.

She was coming.

"Oh yes.." he said, watching her eyes widen and smiling lazily, "She has good things planned for you.." trailing off with another chuckle, waving her off and sitting down in a blaze way.

With one leg crossed over the other she was able to see clearly the small heaven scroll rolled up and secured onto his hip, with the way he sat causing his shirt to ride up and show the bottom peek out, but so obvious in the moonlight with its light colour.

Rosile's head churned.

She couldn't take both this guy **and **Maya. She couldn't even get past this guy yet and with the night like this it would only make things harder.

There wasn't anybody coming to her rescue, she was on her own out here with him and she only had a limited amount of time before she was completely toast.

She had to think. _Focus, focus, focus_. Shikamaru would get himself out of this. Shikamaru would think of a way to get out of this mess and Shikamaru would figure a way to beat this guy, without him even knowing he was going down, until he had fallen into the trap.

Focus on your surroundings.

Only dirt and trees. A few stones here and there but she doubted a few pebbles were going to do her much good.

What did she have?

Kunai. Five. All useless if she threw them. Her aim wasn't reliable and she'd only succeed in supplying him with more weapons to use against HER.

She had her hairpins.

No no. All useless. Come on Rosile** _think_**. Use your head. Channel your inner Shikamaru and find a way out of the-

Crackers.

She had crackers.

This was going to be the worst plan of her life. Thank gods Shikamaru wasn't here to see it.

Reaching into her pouch, well aware that the nin was watching her every move, she slipped her fingers into the pocket and pulled out the packet carefully, as if to show him she wasn't going to do anything crazy.

But she was.

An eyebrow raised at her and yet he said nothing as Rosile moved to sit back against a tree behind her as well, acting as if to make herself comfortable and watched his face change into a full state of 'What the fuck do you think your doing?' while she opened the packaging.

_'Here goes nothing'_ she thought sarcastically.

Pushing her hand into the packet roughly, the opening obviously too small for her whole hand she haphazardly rustled around in the packet before pulling a single, crisp and pale yellow cracker out into view of the nin.

Opening her mouth wide she cringed inwardly before placing the cracker ever so slowly into her mouth.. and then.

**CRACK**.

Making sure to bite down as hard as she could, generating as much noise as possible she chewed the cracker with her mouth wide open and made sickly and noisy eating sounds resonate through the quiet forest.

He paled before catching on.

"Hey shut up!" He whispered furiously, whipping up quickly to throw himself over towards her and Rosile quickly ducked to the side, shoving as many as she could into her mouth before his hand took a death grip on her ankle. Chewing louder than she had before.

His hand and weight came down on her hard, Rosile biting down to no avail and the nin's furious teeth clenched and eyes burning with murderous intent, a free hand pushing hers away to get at her throat again.

But with her position she could get to his whole body perfectly.

More specifically. His hip.

Ripping the heaven scroll from its pouch, Rosile threw as hard as she could manage with the weight of the boy on top of her, hearing it land softly with a thud on the dirt through their struggle.

Recognition flashed across his eyes and he instantly abandoned her for the scroll, realizing what her plan had been all along.

If she attracted the other ninja in the forest they were only after one thing.

She could see him searching blindly in a nearby shrub, panic obvious in his body language and his mind clearly preoccupied, his caution for the noise thrown to the wind as he loudly pushed the branches around in his desperate search.

Rosile didn't wait around.

Standing fast she jumped blindly, landing poorly on a tree branch and had to reach out to catch her balance. But it was enough and she had gotten a good deal away before she felt the other ninja find him looking for the scroll.

Ducking against the tree she held her breath, concealing herself as well as she could in the shadows as not to be caught in her own trap.

They were talking. The sound ninja, who had just been on the predatory side, was now taking a defensive stance, a kunai in his hand and his teeth clenched.

_'Just run you stupid fool'_

He wouldn't be able to take all three of them, and he wouldn't be able to escape with the scroll. His best bet was to run and get the hell out of dodge before these other nin freaking murder him.

_**Why wasn't he moving?**_

She could clearly see the three nin surrounding him, one reaching into their pouches for a weapon, one keeping a lookout for anyone else who had heard the noise, and the last.. slowly making hand signs.

_'Oh god'_

Rosile wanted to call out, to get their attention so he could have a fighting chance at running. Memories of Sasuke's fire jutsu flooding her mind her heart sped up at the prospect of being on the receiving end of the jutsu.

It almost burned her when she was standing a good few yards away, never mind in the cross fire.

He would die. They didn't even look concerned about the scroll.

It was her fault.

Mouth poised to shout out, allowing her body to be visible in the moonlight her desperate screech would have been louder than a paper bomb.

But it was swept up in the over-powering roar of water shooting from his lips and sending an unrelenting force straight for the sound nin.

He would have never had a chance.

The waves were strong and crashed against trees, pulling them at their stumps and drowning every speck of dirt it washed over, washing away everything in its path.

By the time it had finished her scream was already long dead in her throat. Just like the Sound nin.

She curled up, back into the shadows and covered her mouth in cowering shock and fear, tears brimming in her eyes and praying to every high heaven that they wouldn't be able to sense her.

Her heart was beating so hard in her chest she could feel it in her neck, swallowing hard and biting hard on her tongue to keep from crying.

She could hear them rustling through the bush, looking for the scroll again. And once they'd found it she heard the unmistakable sound of disappointed groans and another thud as the scroll was thrown some ways away.

It hadn't even been the right scroll. And they killed him.

Without so much as a peep, the team jumped up and disappeared back into the trees, gone silently and leaving the wet carnage forgotten behind them, onto the hunt once more.

Rosile sat in the dark for a long while, her tears streaming down her face freely and her heart screwed up in her chest, her seal beginning to nag at her but she ignored it.

She was responsible for that. She was the reason he was never going to be able to see his family again. Or his friends.

Never be able to have a life and see the world.

She really was a killer.

Her seal began to heat uncomfortably, and yet Rosile was in no mood for it.

She couldn't bear it anymore. It was all because of her stupid blood and her stupid curse that everyone died.

Scratching at her seal in a fit of anger she felt sudden hot white pain come over her and she lost her balance, falling hard onto the wet ground below her.

Whirling blindly she looked around again, her leg buckling underneath her weight and kept low on the ground to try to keep her cries of pain in.

_'They found me they found me they found me'_

Reaching down, her fingers brushed against the kunai in her leg, barely sunken into her flesh and hanging on painfully, she whimpered in pain.

Taking hold, she felt her labored breathing come out in panicked huffs as she pulled, feeling every painful millimeter of it slice out from her muscle.

She cried out and was replied by yet another voice that she hadn't heard that night. Another voice that she rung out smoothly in all the chaos that had just occurred and Rosile's heart dropped.

"Long time no see Rosie"

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**Review if you can.**

**Take Care,**

**-PrincessJade.**


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